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Beastly Possession	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 26740 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

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WARNING: Apparently, this chapter's level of goriness is literally vomit-inducing. Although I'm happy to know that I wrote it that well, it also traumatized some readers. This is a true-to-life description of an animal attack. I did lots of research to get the details right. You've likely seen worse on TV, but I'm still warning you, don't eat while reading.

Disclaimer: Negotiations with Kodansha to usurp ownership of the Fairy Tail franchise have once again been thwarted by the machinations of a masked hero named Hiro. Curses! Foiled again!

Chapter 5

A Mysterious Smell

Erza was beginning to hate crime scenes.

This one was just as bad as the first one she had been sent to: a mutilated body, signs of the victim having been partially eaten, copious amounts of blood, pinkish-gray entrails yanked out and chewed up, orange blobs of fatty tissue melting away in the summer heat, and insects … too many insects.

One arm had been pulled completely off the body and eaten down to the bone with only dried scrapes of muscle clinging to thick tendons. It laid a short distance away from the corpse, the brachioradialis and various extensor muscles gone, the hand left alone since it had too many small bones, fingers slightly curled, having loosened from the fist the victim had likely made from the pain of being torn apart so viciously. This victim had apparently been a female, although it was impossible to tell with the chest eaten down to bones and the face slashed apart. Only a lost high heel and the shredded scraps of a bra were proof.

The smell of death was nauseating, and Erza had to swallow hard to keep her stomach down. It was even more difficult for her to investigate this scene with her thoughts constantly returning to Lucy. If it had not been for Loke having the strength to open his own gate, would Erza have been sent to ask investigators about her death, too? Would Lucy have been torn to pieces like this, partially devoured, a mess of flesh and organs? Erza swallowed back stomach bile and shuddered to even imagine something so horrible happening to her closest female friend.

She got the official report and began to head back. That was when she saw a dark hooded person in the crowd turn sharply and leave. It was suspicious, so she began to follow. After they were away from the main crowd, the hooded person stopped and spun around at her.

"What?" he shouted angrily.

Erza stopped and looked distraught to see it was Gajeel again. "Another murder scene attracted you, huh?"

"It's the smell," he insisted with a growl in his throat.

Erza folded her arms. "Are you attracted to the smell of death and blood? Do you like it?"

"Not that smell," he snapped. "The one that's woven into the rest. I know that smell. It's all over Magnolia lately. I've been smelling it in the guild hall, too."

"Mira told me Master spoke to you privately about these attacks." Her eyes narrow in distrust. "What did you two talk about?"

His red eyes squinted arrogantly as he gave her a haughty grin. "If it was private, that means I can't tell you."

"Gajeel…"

"I can't tell you," he bellowed, suddenly furious. He paused as people on the street looked over in surprise by his outburst. Eventually the traffic moved on. The tension in Gajeel's shoulders loosened, but his face was no less disturbed. "What the geezer and I talked about is a private issue. If you want to know, try asking him, but he won't tell you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to look up something. I might know what's going on."

"Care to enlighten me?" Erza asked wryly.

"No," he glared, but his eyes softened with a hint of worry in them. "If I'm right … I'm probably the only one who can stop these murders." Then Gajeel turned and ran off quickly.

Erza decided to just let him go. It was suspicious, but maybe Gajeel really was able to smell whatever this beast was. Makarov already had a long talk with Gajeel the day Lucy was attacked. If there was anything wrong, the Master would have dealt with it right away. Erza trusted that the Master would not let a dangerous man run around town freely.

So just what was going on with Gajeel?

Natsu was slumped at the Fairy Tail bar staring at the drink Mirajane had made for him, only to get forgotten as he stared vacantly at how the grenadine blended with the tequila to create the effect of a sunset. That was how Mirajane described it, at least. Natsu saw it as a fiery red dragon sleeping under an autumn sky.

Wendy came up beside him, pressing her index fingers together nervously. "Umm … Natsu?" When he did not move, she pouted a little. "Natsu," she said louder. He grunted to let her know he heard. "Uh, well, this might be a weird question, but … I've noticed you haven't been eating."

"That's an observation, not a question," he mumbled, his mouth half buried in his scarf.

"So it is," she whispered bashfully. "Are you still feeling sick?"

He grunted again with a slight shift to his shoulders to show a shrug.

"Also, and this is the weird question, but … well, have you … smelled anything weird lately?"

He glanced over at her this time with a questioning look.

"I've been noticing an unfamiliar smell. It gives me a headache sometimes," she admitted, trying to laugh it off, but the strain of hiding her pain was apparent in her face.

"A headache?" he asked in concern. Only then did he notice dark circles under Wendy's eyes. It looked like the poor girl had not slept in days. "I've been getting the same thing."

"And … and my tummy hurts. I remembered when we found you under the bridge, you had similar symptoms."

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't know. I didn't get it until I noticed the smell."

"I've been smelling something weird since just before that day. I remember, I smelled something, then I felt sick and had a headache and backache."

"Low back and right around the shoulder blades?"

"Precisely!"

She hummed as she considered this. "I wonder if it's a type of Dragon Slayer sickness. Maybe Gajeel has it, too. Have you seen him?"

Natsu slumped a little. "Not in a while. We worked together with the inspection team investigating the murder that took place just after Lucy was attacked. He wasn't being very helpful, I was in a bad mood, I got mad that he wasn't trying hard enough, and I … sort of set an investigator's notebook on fire," he admitted sheepishly. "They made us leave the crime scene. I haven't seen him since that day."

"Natsu…" She glanced around, yet no one was nearby and Mirajane had left to fetch something from the storage rooms. Wendy tiptoed up to him, and the pink-haired Dragon Slayer leaned his ear down to hear her over the low din of the guild hall. "Do you think this smell has something to do with the creature that attacked Lucy? That first day, you had signs of having been in a fight, but you couldn't remember anything. What if it has some odor that affects our health and makes us forget?"

Natsu hated to admit that he had been wondering about precisely that. "I still can't recall anything about that day. Have you noticed any missing time?"

"I … well…" Wendy looked around quickly to make sure they were still alone. "The day Lucy was attacked, I wasn't feeling well. I stayed home, and I don't remember anything of that night. I didn't want to tell anyone," she whimpered, hugging herself as she shivered, "but that night, I … I woke up in the middle of the sakura grove some time after midnight, my clothes were ripped, and it felt like I had been in a huge fight, but I don't remember anything. I don't know how I got there or what happened to me. When I heard Lucy was attacked, I was scared," she squeaked. "Natsu, what if … what if it's me? You and Gajeel are boys, but I'm a girl. What if it's something girl Dragon Slayers do to boy Dragon Slayers? And what if … what if the person attacking everyone … is me?"

She looked so terrified and had tears in her huge eyes. Natsu pouted that she must have lived with this fear for many days, feeling guilty but unable to speak up. He knew the feeling too well. He had also suffered with a sense of guilt that he had not been there to rescue Lucy. He should have returned to Magnolia the day she was attacked, yet he lagged behind, woke up late, and went straight home to sleep off a horrible headache. If he had been there, she never would have gotten hurt. That guilt, along with a bit of lingering worry about just why he kept feeling ill, made his heart ache every time he visited the hospital and saw Lucy unconscious on the bed, still healing from the attack.

He laughed to dispel the little sky Dragon Slayer's worries and patted her shoulder. "Oh, come on, Wendy! You know dragon slaying magic. That doesn't make you half-dragon, or a carnivorous demon. You eat air, not people." He took a deep sniff of her. "And you're not giving off a weird smell. Am I?" Part of him truly was worried. Was this him?

She sniffed and pulled away. "Well, you need a bath."

That was true. He forgot to take one that morning … and the day before. "Besides, whatever attacked Lucy tried to mate with her. It was definitely male. It wasn't you."

"Okay," she said, looking relieved. "Then we need to talk to Gajeel. If he's experiencing the same symptoms, we'll know it's something unique to Dragon Slayers, and if he can smell the same scent, maybe all three of us can work together to track this thing down."

"The sooner, the better. I heard there was another murder."

Wendy covered her mouth. "Oh no! We need to find Gajeel right away."

Just then, Levy came up. "Gajeel? You just missed him. He left this morning."

Wendy jolted that they had been overheard. "He's gone?"

"Just for a couple days," she nodded. "He wouldn't tell me what it's about."

Natsu had a sly smirk. "Ooh? You and Gajeel are so close that you have to know where each other are at all times, huh?"

Levy instantly turned pink. "It's not like that!"

Wendy also got a devilish smile. "Oho! She smells nervous, wouldn't you say, Natsu?"

"Mnn, definitely sweating with anxiety. Ahh, the smell of guilt!"

"Don't smell me, perverts!" Levy yelled. She stomped away, leaving Natsu and Wendy to laugh at her too-obvious reaction.

Two days later, the moon was full and gleamed silver in a cloudless night. Streetlights were hardly even needed with such brilliant heavenly glows. The river that ran through Magnolia gleamed with lunar glory like a silver aorta pulsing through the heart of the town.

With his hands deep in the pockets of his coat, Gray gazed up at the stars as he walked back from the hospital. It was very late to be out, but there was no helping it. He had fallen asleep beside Lucy, his head resting on her bed, and no one came to kick him out until almost midnight. It made him question the efficiency of the hospital staff.

Far away, he heard the cathedral bells chime out the hour. Bored and a little curious about the time, he counted them.

Ten, eleven, twelve … midnight already. A new day.

The Ice-Make mage yawned loudly, not even bothering to cover his mouth. No one was out anyway. The town was quiet with only a slightly chilled breeze whispering through alleys and within the wispy swaying of trees. The coolness felt good on his skin, and the silence was definitely a pleasant change.

Always, there were annoying noises. His neighbors fought constantly, the guild hall had no concept of "peace and quiet," and even in the hospital where he had been staying for the past few days, there were the constant beeps of monitors, whispers between nurses, and pages for doctors announced over the intercom.

He paused for a moment, listening to silence. The only sound was the susurration of the wind and a faint lapping of waves against docked boats. He missed such peace and quiet.

That was when he heard a growl.

It echoed slightly, and Gray realized he was standing by an alley between a meat market and a spice store. The animal's low snarl bounced off the brick walls, vibrating puddles of water in the alley, and came out to the main avenue in a muffled rumble. An instinctive part of Gray froze, thinking that if he simply did not move, the creature would not see him. Like a rabbit before a wolf, he stood with his heart thumping rapidly but too terrified to bolt. He fought that potentially fatal reaction and forced his head to turn stiffly in the direction of the noise.

It was dark in the alley. The moonbeams and streetlights did not reach the bottom of the corridor. Some angular shapes of stacked crates made darker shadows amidst the gloom. The puddles closest to the edge of the alley managed to capture a little argent starlight, yet nothing distinct could be seen in that hellish corridor.

Within that sable sarcophagus, two scarlet-glowing pits gleamed, angry eyes that smirked at finding prey, eyes that promised a slow, excruciating death, being a plaything for a demon before becoming its next midnight snack.

Gray felt his skin turn colder than the frostiest mountain blizzard. His thighs tensed, prepared for the brain's decision: fight or flight. Ice blue eyes stayed on fiery red, both staring in a life-or-death contest. His breath came steady and softer than the sigh of a ghost. In contrast, the beast hissed each breath, and foggy smoke puffed out into the darkness. Gray heard a throaty purr, and he thought he saw a faint reflection of puddle-light shine upon sharp, white teeth.

"Want," came a low hiss.

The momentary panic of facing a beast out of primordial nightmares passed. Gray managed to move beyond dread and plunged straight into anger. This was the beast who hurt Lucy. This was the beast who had killed so many people, who would keep killing and eating in carnal greed.

"Bastard," Gray hissed right back to it.

The beast made a guttural chuckle. "Want fight? Yes-s-s. Come."

Gray's fist rested on his palm, and the night was illuminated by a pale blue glow of a magic circle. "Ice-Make…"

Before he could cast, the red glow vanished, and he heard retreating footsteps.

"Oh no you don't!" Gray shouted, and he dashed forward, not thinking straight, only desiring revenge. "You damned beast! You wanna fight but then run away? Get back here! I'll kill you myself."

He stomped through the puddles and leaped over a fallen box. His teeth gritted as rage that had been simmering for too many days—countless hours of watching Lucy's unconscious face, waiting for the moment when she opened her eyes and smiled—now began to boil, steaming through the cold exterior of the ice mage until condensation formed in the corner of his eyes. He could not help but cry at such an intense surge of emotions, so strong they stabbed his chest and seared his gut. He wanted this beast dead, not just because it was a menace to society, but because when Lucy woke up, Gray did not want her trembling in fear because her attacker was still on the loose.

Gray threw off his coat and shirt to help him run faster. He thought he saw a black shadow leap and take into the air. This was not a problem for him. His attacks could be melee as well as ranged. On the ground or in the air, he would pierce this beast. He would be the hero for Lucy. Maybe when she woke up, she would be so happy that she might reward him with a kiss and …

A scream shattered those thoughts and made Gray jolt. It came from the west, whereas he thought he saw the beast fly north. Cursing, he began to race toward the sounds. Howls of agony and snarls of an animal sped him onward. He turned down streets, following the screams. How was it so far away when the beast had seemed to be right in front of him? Was it really that fast in the air?

He panicked when the voice stopped. Not good! He continued to run toward where he heard the sounds until he came to a hotel. It was impossible to tell from here where the attack originated, but he saw an open window three floors up with a curtain fluttering.

Gazing up, trying to figure out how to reach that room, he almost missed a shadow fleeing the scene. Gray decided the beast must have finished its attack, and he ran after the bulky shape. It turned sharply into an alley, and Gray skidded to make the turn. The fleeing shape knocked over a stack of crates, but Gray leaped over them, clearing them easily.

"Ice-Make: Floor!" he shouted and froze the ground.

The thing running away slipped on the ice and crashed into a metal bin, clanging loud into it with a reverberation almost like metal against metal, not the softer squish of flesh. Gray slid to a stop, grabbed the struggling shoulder, and had an ice knife instantly in his hand, ready to stab. That was when two red eyes glared up at him.

"Fucking ice bastard!"

Gray jolted, but he did not back away. "Gajeel? What the hell is going on?"

Gajeel glanced at the silvery white dagger. "Are you planning on killing me with an icicle? Can your ice really pierce iron?"

Gray wondered about that, but he still did not back down. "I saw you fleeing the crime scene."

"I was chasing the attacker. Thanks to you, it got away."

"You expect me to believe that?"

He shrugged smugly. "Do or don't, doesn't matter to me. However, if you don't hurry, the victim will die. The beast got scared off, so chances are he's not totally eaten up yet. So, are you gonna threaten me with an icepick, or you gonna go play the hero?"

Gray wavered, but he finally gave in. He could figure out what Gajeel was up to later. For now, someone direly needed a hospital.

End of Chapter 5

A/N: Have you ever smelled death? It truly is something you will never forget. By the way, I do lots of research for the gore scenes. It's shocking (and disgusting) what you can find on the internet in the category of animal mauling, fatal accidents, and brutal murder scenes. I've learned to steel my stomach to some horrific pictures, but they help me visualize how a beast might attack.
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Beastly Possession