For Ever (An Elfgreen Fanfic)

10. Jaws of the Beast

People were in chaos outside.

Evergreen got up and immediately went to Elfman, shaking him to wake him up.

"Elfman! Get up, you big lug! It's the beasts!" Evergreen shook him as hard as she could, but Elfman just rolled over, mumbling.

"Five more minutes," he said, and involuntarily, he grabbed Evergreen around the waist with his arm. He wrapped his arms around her, still sleeping like a baby.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Evergreen asked, flustered. She struggled out of his grip, but Elfman was a strong guy.

Evergreen kicked him, and he bolted up.

"Gah! What was that for, Ever??" He asked, rubbing his leg where she kicked him.

"What do you mean? I should be asking you that!" Evergreen replied, scowling.

"But--"

"Forget it, we need to hurry. The beasts are coming," Evergreen said, pulling on her shoes and rushing out of the hut.

Elfman followed close behind, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Where are they?" He asked.

Yasmin came running towards them.

"Elfman! Evergreen! Come quickly this way!" She yelled, pointing towards the forest.

The two mages followed her as she ran to a large group of villagers, arming themselves with spears and clubs and swords. Some of them had guns and slingshots.

"A beast showed up and..." Yasmin paused, choking over her sobs. "And it attacked another man."

"Is he okay?" Evergreen asked.

"I don't know... he was taken into a hut to be taken care of..." Yasmin said, trembling.

"There are more beasts coming... Please help us to the best of your abilities," She said, bowing deeply.

"Of course we will," Elfman said, putting his large hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look into his eyes. "Just have faith in us and in your fellow villagers. Make sure you go somewhere safe."

Evergreen nodded. Then Yasmin smiled and wrapped her arms around Elfman in a 'thank you' hug.

Evergreen stiffened. Was that really necessary? She thought to herself. But her thoughts strayed once she saw the beasts approaching.

They looked terrifying.

Their sleek black fur blended in with the night, making it hard to tell just how many of them there were. They each had long, sharp claws and bright yellow eyes that looked far too intelligent to belong to such beasts. They had sharp horn-like protrusions on their heads and long, jagged teeth.

Evergreen involuntarily took a step back. She wasn't afraid of wild animals and she wasn't afraid of the dark, but the frightening combination of these agile beasts and the pitch black, chaotic nighttime made her scared.

"Hey." It was Elfman, coming up to support her, to encourage her. "We're fine. We're Fairy Tail mages, right?"

Evergreen nodded and straightened her posture.

"Don't come running to me if you get too scared, Elfman," she said, teasing him.

"Ha! I'm a real man, Ever. And real men can take on silly beasts like these! Right?" Elfman roared the last part to the entire assembled crowd, and they began to cheer with him as the beasts started attacking.

Evergreen took off her glasses and attempted to stare into the eyes of the beasts.

"My magic has no effect on them," Evergreen said, disappointed.

"It's fine," Elfman said. "We have other ways."

So, instead, Evergreen blasted them back with her Fairy Machine Gun.

Another one was pummeled by Elfman, who had transformed into Lizardman.

The villagers, motivated by the mages' success, started to fight back even more aggressively than before. It started to look like they had the upper hand.

But then, as Evergreen was blasting more of the beasts, one of them jumped on her from the side. She screamed, not expecting the attack.

"Ever!" Elfman yelled, concerned. He tried to help her, but there were three beasts on him at the time.

The beast had its front paws on Evergreen's arms and its mouth was inches away from her face. She could feel its hot breath. She saw the razor-like teeth up close. So Evergreen closed her eyes tightly, knowing that she wouldn't have time to fight back.

But then, she felt something drop on her chest, and then the weight of the animal leaving her body.

Evergreen was surprised. The beast was right on top of her, but it hadn't ripped her to shreds. It could have. But it didn't.

Instead it dropped something on Evergreen, simply got off her, and walked back into the forest.

Shocked, Evergreen lay there.

Soon, all the other remaining beasts followed the lead of the one that had attacked Evergreen, and left the villagers alone.

The villagers were confused at their sudden disappearance, but were equally overjoyed.

"It's all thanks to the Fairy Tail mages!" Yasmin yelled, running up to Elfman and giving him a hug.

"You all fought like real men! You should be proud of yourselves, too!" Elfman said, smiling.

He looked over to Evergreen, who still lay on the grass in a daze.

And on her chest was a note, dropped from the jaws of the beast.