Needless Carnage - Strangers

[Gildarts]

At last, their progress seemed to offer results, the cold chill of water had become temperate and warm, he thought he even saw a little sunlight through the cloudy waves. “We’re nearly there.” Behemoth offered to Gildarts, who was ready to dry off into any warmth he could get and at his point he would take a volcano.

The surface! Gildarts caught sight of streaming light. No matter the many hours he traveled in the icy water, it had been too long. Behemoth swam upward however and as he did this, something distorted the light. The Prime’s pace slowed. What’s this?

“This is where I leave you, Prime. We have traveled this far together, however, my drive is stronger than yours.” Behemoth spoke in a somber voice that bubbled with air.

Never question the strength of a man’s resolve. Gildarts warned and clenched his jaw as aggression swelled in his chest.

Behemoth smirked, “Oh my, seems I’ve angered you. I don’t like to make enemies of strong Primes, but do not take this as a betrayal, but merely as an early departure. It will be better for us both if they come after us separately-”

A punch knocked the air from the weakling’s ribs, Gildarts grew startled as he heard the cracking of feeble bones. Maybe he went too far with his punch, but soon Gildarts saw the reason why he was being ditched. Behemoth’s body was drifting toward a large net, it was similar to the invisible stone and was formed in the space around the distant jail. It had vanished from sight and was many leagues below yet this cage that ensnared them teemed with volts of rippling electricity. Gildarts’ eyes grew with realization, Behemoth had planned for Gildarts (and his metallic conductible appendages) to absorb the energy of the shocking electricity while he escaped alive.

The wizard rarely scowled but his focus now would not be overcome by the surge of untame magic within, so as he fixed his mind on his last obstacle. This was the unspoken ‘Stage Three’ that Behemoth had planned without him. Sure, the disposal of Gildarts would have been convenient, but didn’t Behemoth guess that he could easily break the chains with his crash magic? Why had the idiot planned it this way?

The Prime would soon find out as he cast his own net of magic toward the electrified chains. As though they were fish in a net, there was no escape. The mage’s attack bounced off of the strong chains and as the energy collided it was struck with a bolt of static.

Water swished through the small holes as a current flowed easily through the steel trap. It must be reinforced. Or perhaps, it nullifies magic... Even if I hit it with my fist, it could still nullify the very impact of the attack. The idea that the momentum of a physical punch could be absorbed reminded him of a certain wizard. As the immortal cast a glance to either sides of him, it seemed the net was shrinking. Probably alerted by Ursula’s attack... He reasoned and there was no time to loose. Gildarts readied a punch and braced himself for a volt of electricity that could kill him. He only had one chance.

A fist was thrown at the netting and he took the ten-thousand volts of electricity as the heat and pain simmered in his bones. A current of water pulled him away from the net right as the corners of his eyes were beginning to turn black and he drifted motionlessly in the water. Unending pain surged in every layer of his body from the zaps that continued to electrify him due to his submersion in water (a highly conductible element) and the contact it made with his steel joints. After a woozy moment, Gildarts realized he wasn’t dead and accredited this to his status as a Prime as well as the fact that the electricity had somehow diminished in the atmosphere around him. It must have been the reason the net was able to function in the ocean, for its charge had proven powerful (and still remained prevalent in the water) and yet it was only effective because of the saline water. The Prime shrugged away his pain and inched his smoldering muscles to move as he gently swam through the staticy water with a permanent grimace on his face.

The good news was that he had made a small hole in the net, enough for him to swim through. The bad news was, he would have to leave Behemoth behind. The secondary’s body drifted lower and Gildarts looked at the slowly coiling net. The hole he had made was growing smaller and he had a choice to make.

Gildarts drifted through the water and still felt the sting of electricity with his movements as he carried his partner (for the time being) on his back and the two escaped the doom of the closing net. It almost caught on his cloak as they meandered through the sharp teeth of the electric fence but with a little of the immortal's luck they were able to get out alive.

After what seemed like a while of just peddling their feet, the two men reached the distant shore of the same quaint town where it all began. Somehow the end had become a new beginning.

...

They washed up on a fairly desolate beach as dawn grew into day. Behemoth coughed up water and the way his soggy shirt crumpled into a ball and revealed this bruised abdomen. His senses finally seemed to catch up with him and he rose swiftly upward and his head turned almost a full one-hundred and eighty degrees as he analyzed his location.

Behemoth’s eyes met the Prime’s and he spoke conclusively, “So we made it.”

“Sure did.” Gildarts simply nodded as he rose from a kneeling position to finally sit upright. Unasked questions simmered in his mind as Behemoth searched the Prime’s memories for more answers.

“You know, you’re a powerful guy. But I still can’t find the reason you grabbed me after realizing I was going to use you at the last stage.” Behemoth offered, trying to establish good terms with the Prime.

“Hmph, I’m from Fairy Tail. I always honor my agreements. Even when others don’t.”

“That is very noble of you. And I greatly appreciate it, Gildarts of Fairy Tail. Would you say our escape was a success?” Behemoth crooned.

“Huh? Yeah, of course it was, we’re on this beach and none of those weird looking dudes seem to have caught up.” Gildarts flexed his aching joints and dusted the sand from his drying clothing.

“You have great things in your future.” Behemoth spoke as though he could see the future as well.

“I’d like to know what’s in yours. What do you plan to do next?”

Behemoth mustered, “Perhaps even someone so wretched as I, have an honorable agreement to keep. And I couldn’t keep it from down there. No matter how long it took for me to escape, I’m here now. O-oof, wow you did a number on my ribs, three of them are broken.” He wheezed out a struggling breath as proof.

“Sorry, couldn’t quite gauge my own strength in the water, but you did plan to leave me to get caught by the authorities.” Gildarts wasn’t as sorry as his words justified.

“Is that what happened? Hah, maybe even this valiant punch was part of my plan. Of this you’ll never know for sure. I will admit, meeting Ursula instead of the kraken was a surprise though, perhaps I’m loosing some of my talent.” he paused to explain, “Ursula and I have a history, if you couldn’t tell. I was on the crew to destroy her for creating such havoc on the sea. When we won, well, at the time we considered it a victory, we were overjoyed. However small a triumph it may seem to you."

A long pause drew between the lines of silence, "You were one of them, weren't you?"

"One of who?" Behemoth, the mind reader, was asking him a question.

"You were once a soldier of Camelot." Gildarts concluded.

"I was. But that was a lifetime ago." Behemoth admitted before continuing his story, "However, my daughter.. She... Let’s just say she got lost. Now I have a responsibility to go and find her. And before you offer your services Prime, I deny you any more information. You may not come.”

“If that’s your choice, I understand. You can always contact me if you need to. Say, do you know any way out of the Omniverse? You managed to get us out of the underwater jail.” Gildarts seemed convinced of the skill to escape, even conversations.

“Huh? Leave the Omniverse? There is no escape, the only thing I’ve ever even heard rumors about was a place that is a rip in the verses. And thats just it, its all I’ve even heard. Rumors.” Behemoth nodded.

“I’m sure its possible.” Gildarts was convinced.

“Its never been done, but, who am I to stop you?” Behemoth offered a motivational grin, but his sickly face betrayed him and it came off as more weak than anything. “Listen, you can’t stay in Costa del Sol. I know you plan on going to visit that woman, but you must heed my warning. You must lay low for a month or longer and leave this verse. Flee from the Vastly Deep and do not enter the Empire’s lair. If you are looking for work, I hear there is trouble in the Frozen Fields, its best for you to remain there until some time has passed. You were a wizard in your original world, were you not? There will be work in the fields, not easy work but it will be enough for you to survive. Stay there at least until the month is up. I daresay even Camelot is infested with spies for I do not know its current status. The fields are best for a fellow escapee.”

“Will I be able to find answers there in the frozen world?” Gildarts asked the man, who was growing more and more mysterious with every comment he made.

“When the questions you seek are answered you will know better than anyone. Perhaps it might even jump out and hit you in the face.” He chuckled to himself at the joke he had made and grew more amused by the Prime's characteristic bewilderment. “Go then, shouldn’t you check on the flower woman?”

“I’ll rest here a little longer. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good sunrise, not to mention after everything we just went through, I’m not mentally prepared to wander into town yet.” Gildarts had set his black cape up to dry on a nearby branch and revealed the soggy bandages over his shoulder. His muscles emphasized the size of his physique and the only thing that weighed heavier than the fatigue in his bones was the weight of the Fairy Tail insignia on his chest.

...

Martha’s shop was as clean as ever as light fell on the flourishing flowers. Her smile greeted him as she turned to see his familiar face that usually had a daunting effect on people. Not her.

“Hey!” her smile was brighter than any flower, “It’s so great to see you, I didn’t expect you back here for a while. But its only been a few days. Hang on, I’ll set up a pot of tea-”

“Ah, sorry Martha, there’s no need to go to the trouble. I just stopped in to tell you I won’t be back here for a while.” Gildarts was confident in his departure yet could sense the disappointment as her curved smile faltered.

“Oh, I see. Well, that’s to be expected of a Prime. You have adventures that take you all over the Omniverse.” Gildarts wondered why this sounded so familiar but nodded in agreement.

“Well you see, I..” he decided not to tell her his most recent adventure had caused him to get in a blunder with the Empire, “I’m told there are people in the Frozen Fields that need some help. So, I’m off to another icy place.”

“Oh wow! That is indeed very brave of you. You'll need all your strength for something like that.” her optimism was astounding as the young kid on the red bike entered the store with the familiar chime ringing over the door.

“Mornin’ Marfa,” he said as though there were something in his mouth. As Gildarts turned to see the boy, his eyes grew out of astounding shock.

“Ah, looks like you’ve been in a fight. That's a nice black eye though, proves you are strong enough to hold your own in a battle, even if you lost.” Gildarts offered his praise with a smile.

“Oh its you!” he immediately bowed, “I’m sorry for affuming fhat you were a bad man.”

“Huh?” Gildarts looked oblivious and glanced at Martha as she explained.

“Billy thought it was you who busted up my shop. Then when those soldiers returned when you weren’t here, this brave young boy gave them a good deal of butt-kicking.” Martha explained with a boasting smile.

“Oh? So that’s how you got that black eye?” he asked, for a moment he was angered, What soldier would beat up a kid? Then he was reminded of the corruption Behemoth had told him of and his resolve to flee from Coruscant and the Vastly Deep (for the time being) was strengthened. “Well, you sure have earned my respect kid. Taking on someone twice your size is something only the most courageous of men are able to do.” Somehow that sounded familiar too.

Billy’s eyes grew wide as he rose from his apologetic bow, Gildarts now got a better look of his missing front tooth, swollen right cheek, and bruised purple eye. “You really think so misfer?”

For a moment, Gildarts was reminded of Gray and nodded to the boy. “It takes a strong man to stand up for what he believes in. And a stronger man to follow through with his actions. You deserve a treat. Martha, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll stay for that cup of coffee before I head out. I think I’ll need some warming up.”

Martha was overjoyed and nodded as she left the room to set the kettle. Billy explained with openly flamboyant gestures how the villainous authority came in here and attacked once more, they had wanted to ruin the flower shop but they picked the wrong time to be there. Billy swung in from on his bike and grabbed the closest thing to him -a broom- later the story ended with the three guards cowering in fear as they scrambled from the shop. Billy was triumphant and Martha was saved.

“Wow you sure showed them.” Gildarts chuckled to himself as he sipped the refreshingly warm beverage from a thick mug. The wisps of steam rushed in his nose and invigorated the weary wizard.

“Now they’ll never come back here. I was just like you when Martha said you made them leave.” Billy’s enthusiastic eyes grew with a youthful glow.

"Martha, I thought you said he was gonna stay out of trouble?"

The gardener's smile widened, "I know, I know, his mother was furious but it can't be helped. It's almost as though trouble found him!" The three shared a laugh that seemed to fill the moment with liquid joy as it poured into the next.

Gildarts soon departed from her shop and the familiar sound of the ringing door echoed in the distance. They waved from the window at his departure and the Prime was off, he had done his work here and now would leave to see what could be done in... The Frozen Fields.