Chapter 7 - City in the Trees

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

A few hours after leaving the station in Marow City, the train the group had taken entered into a dense forest. The ground below gave way to a swampy murk with trees growing straight out of the water on all sides. The train traveled on a large bridge only meters above the water, though from inside it appeared to be gliding along the surface of the swamp itself. Lights became visible in the distance and Amber began to spot structures built into some of the trees they passed.

At first it was only a house here and there. But as they drew closer to their destination, larger buildings networked by stairs and bridges joined together into a vast colony. The train began to slow down, coming to a stop next to a stone slab built into the roots of a massive tree.

Axel ejected himself out the window of the train the second it stopped moving, laying face up on the platform with a smile. "Ahh, solid ground..." He mumbled, staring up at the darkening sky above. People started to gather around him, confused by his actions, and he sat up again to look back into the cabin. "Hey Zeke, throw me my stuff."

Wings sprouted from the tiny felines back, and he hovered up to the baggage compartment to retrieve Axel's bag. Just as Zeke flew out the window, Geno quipped. "You know, you probably wouldn't throw up if you didn't eat before going anywhere."

"It's not like I had a choice." Axel argued, getting to his feet with Zeke landing on his shoulder. "I was just going to hang out today. Shelly was the one who showed up and dragged us all out with her." He said, pointing to her as she and Amber disembarked the train.

"You were fine." She retorted, seemingly trying to ignore his accusations. "Besides, Amber wanted to make some money. And it would have been dangerous to let her take her first job alone." The two of them continued to argue back and forth for a while, but Amber largely ignored them as she took in her surroundings.

For Amber, it was all an amazing sight. But her amazement was cut short when the train gave a short blow of its whistle as it departed again. Amber went rigid, holding her ears to stop the noise. The others had absentmindedly wondered away, until Shelly looked back upon realising the where one person short. "Amber?" She asked with concern. "Something wrong?"

"N-no, nothing." She felt a slight sting on her elbow, and immediately swatted at an insect that had bitten her. She thought quickly, realising that this was the perfect excuse. "Just a bug."

Shelly sighed, apparently not convinced. "I see." Amber tried to ignore her as she caught up with them; and when she did Shelly stepped out in front of them all. "Well Amber, welcome to Treetop Town."

Amber looked around her again, feeling the sense of amazement slowly come back. Bridges and docks sprawled out in all directions, and houses seemed to climb up the larger trees like a fungus. Boats and ships of all sizes littered the murky water, all with a crew of their own hard at work. The sun was obscured by the thick canopy overhead, but an uncountable number of lanterns kept everything illuminated. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, prompting Amber to ask. "How did this all get here?" She looked down the train tracks in either direction, seeing nothing but water and darkness. "We're so out of the way..."

"Story was, a few decades ago someone dug up a fair bit of treasure 'round here." Geno explained. "That drew loads more people in, and they all needed a place to live." The group began walking away from the station as Geno explained, headed for whatever their destination was. "Few more people got some good stuff, but a bunch ended up broke and stuck here with no way out. Then somebody noticed that the place was just right for fishing and this place had a use again."

As they made it to a larger pathway close to the massive tree's trunk, Shelly pointed at a few booths selling trinkets and other assorted novelties. "The town became really popular with tourists once the train company laid tracks here too." She suddenly swatted at something on her neck, and brushed away a dead bug a moment later. "If you don't mind bugs, that is." Amber giggled a little, and Shelly took her hand and led her down towards a boat that was moored nearby. "We can get there faster if we get a taxi."

Apparently having heard them, Axel ran ahead to blocked their path. "Not a boat, no way!" He complained. "It's like a ten minuet walk, and we don't have to pay for it if we walk." Shelly sighed in exasperation, and Axel took another step towards Amber. "Come on guys. Please?"

Amber pulled back slightly, still not sure if she trusted him just yet. She didn't know what to say, but the boat looked a little small for four people to ride at once. "I-." She stuttered, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the thought of being closer to him. She looked away, trying to avoid eye contact. "I don’t mind walking."

Axel suddenly took hold of her shoulders, bowing his head in thanks. "You're a lifesaver." He took off running down the boardwalk before anyone else got the chance to argue, leaving Amber to sink to her knees from the shock.

"He is so dramatic..." Shelly complained, helping Amber to her feet. "Are you sure you're ok? You're acting kind of weird."

"I'm fine." Amber assured, despite her knees still shaking. Shelly didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything this time. "I'm just nervous, is all. The last job I took..." She reached up to feel her forehead, her thoughts going back in the monster she had been pitted against when she first met Axel and Zeke. "It didn't go so well."

"That's what the rest of us are here for." Shelly said with pride. "Like Jaina always says, it's dangerous to go alone."

Amber fought to hold back a smile. "Where'd she hear that?"

Shelly shrugged. "I don't know. She use to say it to me and my brother all the time whenever we took a quest though."

After looking over his shoulder, Geno cut in. "Sorry to interrupt, but we should probably get going before Axel and Zeke start up a tab." Shelly nodded, and Amber followed after them as they set out. "If we're lucky, he won't eat through the whole reward before the job is done."

After a short walk, the group had arrived at another massive tree, this one with a single five storey building wrapping around the trunk. Apparently it was the hotel they were heading too, as a moment later they had all stored their bags in their rooms and now sat around a table in a large multi-leveled dining room. Food had been brought to their table, so it was relatively quiet for a little while, however Geno soon piped up after clearing his plate. "So what job did you sign us up for?"

Shelly waited a moment to swallow what she was chewing, then wiped her mouth before answering. "The one from Aged Pelt." She took the poster out of the pocket of her skirt and handed it to him. "We just have to go into the swamp and find something for them."

Geno looked the paper over, apparently growing concerned about what it said. "The master let us take this one without Rift?"

"Well... Not exactly..." Shelly admitted, shuffling in her chair from embarrassment. "Dad was out of town this morning, and Jaina didn't argue very much." Geno sighed, and Shelly seemed to get defensive because of it. "Besides, we're just looking for something. How dangerous could it be?"

Geno looked as if he was about to say something, but Amber beat him to the punch with a question. "I'm sorry, what's a Rift?"

"One of the guild's S-Class mages. He's one of the best fighters we have." Axel cut in, taking a break from eating. "Normally he's the leader of our team, the Thrill Seekers." He said with pride.

"None of us are very good at naming things." Shelly added.

The others laughed, though Amber had now become curious. "How many of them are there?" Her meeting with Payla that morning suddenly popped into her head, and she quickly added. "How strong are they?"

"There's my brother." Shelly said excitedly. "He became an S-Class just last year."

"In total, there are four." Geno explained. "And sorry to say it Shelly, but your bro's probably the weakest of the lot of 'em." Shelly puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms in annoyance, but Amber noticed that she didn't argue the point. "Let's see. There's also-."

"Peltin!" Zeke barked. "You met him this morning, Amber. The old guy with the pony tail that looks like a skunk." He held his tail up to the back of his head, as if his explanation wasn't good enough, and added. "Remember? He's the one who told you to not pee your-."

Amber jumped across the table at him, her face going red again as she quickly said. "Yeah, yeah. I remember! You don't have to tell everybody." She slowly crawled back to her seat, holding Zeke against her stomach with her hand over his mouth.

"Uh, well I'd say Rift and Peltin are around the same level." Geno cut in, deciding to keep any questions he had to himself. "Rift is younger, but Peltin is way more experienced." He scratched his chin for a moment, looking up at the ceiling to think. "They fought a bunch of times, but neither one can ever get the upper hand."

"What about Jaina?" Amber blurted, still thinking about what Payla had told her. "She was the guild master once, wasn't she?"

The others grew silent for a moment, and Amber realised that apparently this was a bit of a touchy subject. After a few seconds, Shelly broke the silence. "Well, Dad said she was really something back in the day. But after her accident she isn't much stronger than us now." She hid her right arm behind her back and used her other hand to cover her left eye, making Amber remember Jaina's numerous injuries. "You know... because of this."

An uncomfortable silence fell over them all for a moment, which was broken by Axel apparently trying to lighten the mood. "If we're talking about people who aren't S-Class, Raven and his team are definitely up there." Nobody said anything, so he decided to change the subject again. "Though if I was to be completely honest, I'd say Isa is one of the strongest ones we got."

"Isa?" Amber asked in surprise. "Is she really that strong?"

"Yeah. She's got to be one of the strongest women in the guild." He said absentmindedly, completely unaware of Amber's concerns. "Besides Kat of course."

Amber sighed, beginning to become annoyed that she knew so little about the guild. "And who's Kat?"

"Another of the S-Classes." Zeke said, having finally pulled Amber's hand from his face. "She's kind of a goofball, but really strong. I don't think I've ever seen her lose a fight."

Geno smirked. "And how many times 'ave you seen her fight, Zeke?"

"Well... None." Zeke admitted, taking a seat on Amber's lap. "But she never has to go to Jaina because of an injury."

The others laughed again, but Amber was still deep in thought. As everyone returned to eating, another question came to Amber's mind. "If Isa’s the strongest person in the guild, why isn't she an S-Class too?"

"She says she doesn't want the attention." Shelly explained between bites. "Dads' offered to let her take the S-class exam a bunch of times, but she always turns him down."

"She's not the strongest in the guild though." Axel cut in. "Well, she might be. But she never fights anyone so we don't really know." Amber was confused by this, but Axel continued regardless. "Our Guild Ace though; he can put most of us to shame. A bunch of us challenged him to a fight once and he tossed us around like nothing." Amber found the prospect impossible to imagine, but her train of thought was broken when she heard Shelly sigh. "This other time, we-."

"Alright, alright, enough about fighting." Shelly insisted, "It's getting late, and we all have a job to do tomorrow." She jumped to her feet and slung her book bag over her shoulder, turning back to Amber with a wink before walking off. "See you back at our room."

"Bye." They all said in unison as Shelly left. Axel went back to eating almost immediately, however Amber still had things she wanted to know. Everything she asked about seemed to bring up two more questions, and it had begun to become agitating. Something Payla had mentioned had been on her mind for a while though, and she decided it better to just ask outright. "Hey guys, what's the Balam Alliance?"

"Some big group o' dark guilds from the next country over." Geno mumbled, with no small amount of distain. "From what I’ve heard, they've been giving the council a hell of a time for a while now."

"Raven would know a lot more about it though. He was in one of the higher-up ones." Axel added, making Amber freeze in place. Payla had said that too, right before she warned her about Isa. If that was true, was everything else as well? As she considered everything, Axel continued to explain. "I think it was called-."

"Grimoire Heart." Amber interrupted.

There was a silence for a moment, in which Amber realised that she'd had a slip of the tongue. "Yeah. How'd you know?" Axel asked.

"I, uh..." Amber was at a loss again. Shelly wasn't here to debunk anything she said, though that didn't make thinking of a lie any easier. "J-Jaina mentioned it." The others seemed to let it go, however Amber had become so use to explaining her lies that it was a reflex by now. "She was complaining about what Raven did this morning and said something about it."

"I don't remember that." Zeke mumbled, looking up at her from her lap. "What did Raven do this morning?"

Amber sat quietly, annoyed by how much of a loudmouth Zeke was. She thought the others were going to question her, however Geno simply got up from his seat and began to leave. "Well either way, you don’t got to worry about it. Raven broke off from 'em a while ago, so as long as you stay out of his way you got nothin' to worry about." Hearing that didn't really help, but Geno got up to leave before Amber had the chance to say anything else. "See ya' guys later."

Amber sat for a moment, realising that she and Axel where alone together again; save for Zeke of course. She still had things she wanted to know, but this was as good a chance as any to ask him about the most pressing matter on her mind. "H-hey uh, Axel?"

He took a second to wipe his mouth, only now just finishing his meal. "What's up?"

"Oh, well..." Amber found herself unprepared. She barely had the nerve to say anything, and Axel being so open caught her completely off guard. "Remember when we met in Johdine? When I was knocked out?"

Axel thought for a moment. "Yeah, when we had to fight that lizard thing with the shell for a face."

"Y-yeah, that." This was getting easier, which allowed Amber to be more forward. "You didn't do anything to me when I was asleep. Did you?"

"I told you, I carried you to Jaina's place." He spoke as if it was obvious, which Amber found startlingly annoying. "I couldn't just leave you behind. Council guys where everywhere."

She shook her head, her face growing flush as she thought about what she was trying to ask. "No, I mean... Y-you didn't do anything funny, right?"

"He threw up a lot after we got on the ship." Zeke added. "It was kind of funny."

"No!" Amber screamed, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. Zeke caught himself on the tablecloth, having been thrown from Amber's lap as she stood up. "I want to know if you did anything weird to me!" Axel sunk back a bit, but didn't have time to say anything as a number of other customers began staring and mumbling to themselves. Amber looked around quickly, her face flushing red from embarrassment, and she ran to the closest exit she could find. Leaving a confused Axel and Zeke sitting at the table alone.

She ran through the hotel as fast as she could, up every flight of stairs until she reached the floor her room was on. She threw the door open with a bang and kicked of her sandals, jumping onto the nearest bed and burying her face into the pillow. Shelly stuck her head out of the bathroom to investigate, toothbrush in hand and already in her pajamas. "Amber? What are you doing?"

"I'm fine!" She yelled into her pillow, too worked up to really pay attention to what Shelly had asked. Armeria jumped from Amber’s waist, coming to rest on the windowsill across the room. "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow."

"Ok..." Shelly said slowly, disappearing back into the bathroom. She emerged a little later and began unpacking it a small gym bag at the foot of the other bed. "I packed a few things for you too." Amber didn't really respond, but looked out of the corner of her eye just in time to see Shelly pull the pajamas she had been letting her borrow out of the bag. "I brought something for you to sleep in. I didn't think you’d want to sleep in street clothes."

"Thanks..." Amber grunted into her pillow.

"I have a couple books too, if you get bored." She added

"Ok." Amber mumbled, wishing that this day would just end.

Shelly waited for a moment, then sheepishly added. "And, uh... You're on my stuff."

Amber popped up. "Huh?" Shelly pointed at her stomach, and she rolled over to find herself laying over the clothes Shelly had been wearing that day. "Oh." She quickly rolled off the bed and looked away. "I'm sorry."

"That's ok." Shelly swept her clothes into a pile on the floor and Amber decided to go into the bathroom to change, trying to keep out of the way as much as she could. Amber re-emerged a minuet later, twisting her arms to try and get a more comfortable fit out of her loaned pajamas, to find Shelly was sitting on one of the beds. "You can tell me if something's wrong, you know. We’re friends, right?"

Hearing that caught Amber off guard. "You consider me a friend?"

"Well, yeah." Shelly seemed a little disheartened that Amber had asked, but continued anyways. "We've been hanging out for a little while, and now we're on a job together." Her expression changed into more of a pout and her eyes got big and puffy. "Don't you?"

"I-uh." Amber felt bad now, completely takin by Shelly's puppy dog eyes. She didn't want to upset her, and it made her feel good to know that someone thought of her as a friend. "Yeah, I do."

"Good." Shelly's expression flipped back into her typical smile. "So why are you so worked up?"

Amber sighed as she lay down on her bed. By now there was no point in trying to say she was ok; and even if she did, Shelly could somehow see through every fib she told. She didn't want to mention Payla, for reasons even she couldn't place, and was so sick of thinking about Axel that her head hurt. "I'm nervous about the job." She thought out loud without realising it, but that too was another pressing issue on her mind so she decided to go along with it anyways. "I've never really been part of a team before."

"Oh." Shelly leaned against the headboard of her bed, tucking her legs against her chest. "Yeah, I guess taking your first job can be a little scary. Especially when it's away from home." She corrected herself after a moment, remembering Amber's current lack of housing. "Well, away from what your familiar with at least."

"Where you scared?" Amber inquired. "When you took your first job?"

"A little." Shelly admitted, rolling onto her back to look at the ceiling. "My brother came with me though. And we didn't even leave the city." She giggled to herself as she recalled the events. "It wasn't much of a first job to be honest."

Amber laughed too, feeling herself finally calming down after a long day of worrying. Other than Axel, every problem on her mind seemed so far away now that she couldn't help but forget about them. Just as she thought about going to bed, one last question came to mind. "Have you ever gotten hurt on a mission?" She asked, reaching up to feel her forehead.

By now, Shelly had worked herself under the covers of her bed; undeterred by Amber's question. "A couple times, but never that badly." She seemed to be playing it off, but something seemed off about the way Shelly had answered. "Don't worry about it. You'll do fine tomorrow." She said confidently, switching off the lights. "Then we can go shopping when we get back home."

Amber moaned as she stretched out her back, trying to work an ache out of her shoulders, then slowly crawled under the covers herself. "Yeah, sure." She was feeling better now, or at least had less on her mind. "See you tomorrow." A few minutes later the both of them had fallen asleep, neither of them knowing what their job tomorrow would have in store for them.

Next Chapter – The Hunt Begins