Chapter 31 - Dollhouse

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

The hallway opened up into a large room, with a slight chemical smell hanging in the air. White tiles covered pretty much every surface, and a massive in-ground swimming pool sat in the center of the floor. On a walkway reaching over the pool, Thain was franticly looking over a list of directions he'd made.

"The hell is this?" He muttered to himself. "The hell am I supposed to get out of here? This doesn't look like any boathouse I've ever seen." He stopped and suddenly looked out the skylight, viewing nothing but the sky above. "What the hell is going on?!"

Amber and Axel sat crouched on either side of the doorway, just out of sight but able to hear every word of Thain's complaining. Zeke hung in the air above Amber, while Shelly sat in her hand. "That's definitely the guy." She said in a hushed tone.

"So that must be the rainbow stone." Zeke gestured to a bag resting next to Thain's leg. "What else could it be?"

"But what's he doing here?" Amber asked, looking around and finding that they were standing at the only exit. "This place is a dead end."

Shelly thought back. "The signs, someone switched them. He must've thought this was the boathouse." She glanced across at Axel, a somewhat prideful look forming in the fetchers of her tiny rodent face. "I told you I knew where I was going."

Axel groaned, but stood up and cracked his knuckles with a grin. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about him getting away now. All we got to do is kick his ass and get the stone back, right?"

"Quietly." Shelly added. "We can't disturb the party. And don't knock him out. We need him to tell us what happened to Lir."

Amber stood up too, placing a hand on her belt and readying for their attack. She handed Shelly to Zeke, who hopped up onto his back. "We should attack at the same time. Catch him off guard."

Just as the two of them were about to step out, Shelly jumped up with one more protest. "Wait, wait. I remember reading somewhere that opals are really fragile." The others all looked at her in disbelief, this was one more complication they really didn't need. "You guys need to be careful, or you might break it."

The two of them looked back out at the thief again, then at Shelly. "Didn't Kat say it was a Lacrima?" Amber asked.

Shelly shrugged, and Axel spoke up again. "So... We have to kick his ass; but we make a lot of noise, we can't knock him out, we have to attack at the same time, and we have to be careful?" The way he said it made it seem impossible. A pretty fair assessment, all thing's considered. "Are you sure we shouldn't go get the others?"

Shelly huffed, taking a moment to think of a plan. "You two hold him off. Zeke and I will go back and get Fiona."

The two of them exchanged glances, but no better option came to mind. Amber glanced over her shoulder, trying to think of something encouraging to say, when something caught her eye down the hall behind them. It was shrouded by the shadow of the hallway, but almost unmistakable.

Over two dozen wooden manikins clung to the walls and floor like a swarm of insects, and they all began scuttling at them the second Amber noticed them. "Run!" Amber grabbed Zeke and Shelly, then dove out into the pool house. Axel followed right after them as the dolls began to fill the door.

"Wood make: Bamboo skewer!" They both turned around to find a barrage of wooden arrows raining down on them, and quickly had to take evasive action.

Amber's belt transformed into a shield, which she, Shelly, and Zeke all took cover behind, while Axel rolled away and dove behind a wooden pool chair. The arrows snapped upon impact, and just as Amber began to doubt their effectiveness, the last of them whizzed past her head close enough to sever a few strands of her hair.

The barrage subsided, leaving the tile floor littered with wooden splinters. "You know I could hear you, right?" Thain said with a grin, leaning on the railing of the walkway. They all emerged from cover, and Thain's vision flicked to Amber. "Huh, I remember you. You and the runt with the purple hair, you're the one's the little heiress called for."

"What've you done with Lir?!" Shelly shouted.

Thain had to look around to find where the tiny voice had come from, but he laughed when he saw the purple hamster in Amber's hand. "I got no idea. My cohort took care of her."

Shelly shivered in horror, but Amber took a moment to glance over her shoulder. The manikins had formed into a fence that blocked the entrance, so they couldn't try running for help. The hum of charging electricity buzzed through the air, and Amber had just enough time to see Axel raise his hand and shout. "Lightning Dragon's Bolt!"

A bright flash of lightning shot from his palm, carving along the walkway. Thain ducked just as part of the railing exploded in a shower of sparks, falling from sight behind the smoke.

"Hey, Axel!" Axel spun towards Shelly's angry yell to find Amber kneeling down with one hand over her ear, gritting her teeth in agony.

He instantly realised his mistake, and rushed to her side when Thain emerged from the smoke. He clasped his hands together, almost like he was praying, and a narrow twig appeared when he drew them apart. "Wood Make: Manikin!" The twig rapidly grew, quadrupling in size almost instantly. Arms and legs sprouted, and it dropped to the ground.

Axel had barely taken two steps towards Amber when the human sized doll leapt at him from the walkway, tackling him to the ground. It was on top of him by the time they stopped rolling, and a jagged crack cut across its head. It stretched opened like a huge mouth, and began snapping at him like a rabid dog.

Axel tried to push it away, but either its weight or its strength made the task imposable. He swung his head from side to side, narrowly avoiding its frantic biting. "Armeria: Crimson Eye, go!" A red streak of light severed the doll's head, and Amber's other blade ring sawed through the torso right after.

Axel kicked the doll parts away and rolled up to his feet, just in time to see Amber's blade rings abruptly turn and fly at Thain. He clasped his hands together again, and this time the branch he created began sprouting a thick bush of cherry blossoms. "Wood Make: Blossom Wall!" Armeria bounced off Thain's spell, scattering cherry petals throughout the room. The shredded branches fell into the pool below, and the blade rings returned to Amber's hands. Thain recomposed himself, having escaped unharmed. "Well, looks like you two are up for a fight." He sighed disappointedly. "I was the never the best fighter."

"Then give up!" Zeke shouted, taking to the air again. "You've got nowhere to run. So give us back the Rainbow Stone."

Thain began to chuckle, something that they all found rather annoying. "Think you've got me cornered, do ya?" He clasped his hands behind his back, taking a rather posh tone in his voice. "A good thief always has a plan-B, and a plan-C and plan-D. But the best thing to have at your disposal is a way to cover your weaknesses. Like say, being outnumbered." A small bush appeared behind him, growing from a soft green glow in the palm of Thain's hand. "Wood Make-."

"Oh no!" Shelly cried. "Axel, stop him!"

"Dollhouse!" Axel acted too slowly, as the leaves of the bush began to ruffle and fly away. Each grew into another manikin, which began littering the floor and walls in a massive swarm. They were all relatively small, but each had a long set of claws and a menacing fanged mouth.

Amber and Axel fell back to back, hoping to cover for each other as they quickly found themselves vastly outnumbered. Zeke carried Shelly above them, both powerless to offer any kind of help. "Dammit. This is going to suck." Axel mumbled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but this is where your little chase comes to an end." Thain grinned, and every single one of his dolls stood poised for the attack with a wave of mechanical clicking sounds. "Time to play."

Geno rolled through the bushes onto a stone path, narrowly avoiding a trio of knives flung down at him from above. He hopped to his feet almost instantly, and used his broken broadsword to deflect another two.

He spotted Lyra clinging to one of the higher branches, or maybe it was another one of her clones. He still couldn't tell. She disappeared before he had a chance to do anything, but an amused grin stayed on his face. "Getting bored yet, lass?" He yelled into the trees.

At first, the greenhouse was silent, but then. "Yeah, right. I can do this all day!" Lyra called back, sounding more annoyed than anything else.

It was enough to betray her position though, which was all Geno was looking for. In one motion, he spun and tossed the end of his chain into the trees behind him, snapping branches along the way. Lyra jumped out to intercept it in mid-air, and Geno quickly yanked her down.

Another Lyra popped out of the same bush just as the first hit the ground, but this one was retreating. "Gotcha!" Geno ran after her, traveling just outside the vegetation to keep her in sight. Another copy jumped out of the trees ahead, and dove at him with a pair of knives.

Geno dropped out of the way and skidded past on his knees, slashing its stomach opened with the jagged end of his blade. The copy disappeared with a flash but had done as it was intended, Geno couldn't see Lyra anymore.

He followed down the path anyway, finding himself in what looked like a dining area complete with patio furniture. "Dammit." He thought. "This is beginning to take too long, Shelly's going to be so pissed." He scanned over the vegetation again, but Lyra was nowhere to be found. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea..."

"Give up yet?" Lyra called in a teasing voice. "You getting tired? Am I being too hard on you?"

Geno grunted, but still kept grinning. "Naw, I'm just getting started. Why don't you stop running and come down here?"

"What're you, nuts?!" She yelled in annoyance. "You're like, twice my size. How the hell do you expect me to fight you head on?" Geno chuckled. She had a point, he would definitely win if it came down to a pure physical confrontation. At least she wasn't ditzy enough not to realise that. "Why don't you come up here, huh? Play on my turf."

Geno took a moment to think, scratching his stubbly beard and wrapping his chain around his non dominant arm. But his expression quickly changed to a mad grin and he flipped his sword around to hold backhand. "Alright, if you insist."

He took one step up onto the patio table, then jumped high into the trees. A single chop was all it took to clear the leaves in his way, giving himself an unobscured view of the upper tree canopy. Lyra was only a few meters away, completely shocked. "Wha...?" With an unending grin, Geno clamored across the branches, poised for the attack. Lyra leapt backwards, summoning a pair of clones to counterattack. "Dammit, no fair!"

Geno knocked the first clone aside, sending it to the ground below, and intercepted the second's knife with his broken sword. He remained rooted on the branch and gripped the clone by the wrist, tossing it aside the moment it began to fall. More knives flew at him from the bush, and he used the chain wrapped around his arm to fend them off. He was unable to block them all however, as one was able to make it past his defences and left a shallow cut on his shoulder.

Despite this, he remained remarkably unfazed. As a small dribble of blood ran down his arm, Geno scanned over the forest again and laughed. "So much for this being your turf, huh?"

A bushel of leaves ruffled on the next tree over, and Lyra yelled. "Shut up!"

With one shake of his arm, Geno uncoiled the chain and whipped it at the branch. Three more Lyra clones jumped out and caught it in mid-air, falling to the ground and hoping to take Geno with them.

Their plan failed however; Geno griped the chain and wrapped an arm around a nearby tree, rooting himself in place. He yanked back, and the three copies all disappeared when they collide with the branches.

Catching the coils of his chain, Geno took a moment to catch his breath. He'd been at this for a good while now, and he'd begun to grow bored. Lyra wasn't fighting, she was just running away, yet she hadn't made for one of the exits yet. So that meant she either still had something to do, or was trying to keep him distracted. The thought that she simply hadn't considered leaving came to mind, but there was no way she was really that dense.

"Not going to lie, lass..." He called out again, tying his chain around the hilt of his broken broadsword. "Thought you had a bit more fight in ya!"

"Screw you!" She yelled back.

Geno grinned to himself, wondering how many times he'd be able to trick her into give away her position. After swinging it in a circle to build up momentum a few times, Geno swung his weapon out in the direction of Lyra's voice.

His attack cleaved through a thickly leaved branch, revealing Lyra crouching just behind it. She instantly jumped to her feet and hurled a handful of knives back at him, then took off hopping from branch to branch again. Geno took off after her, ducking under Lyra's assault. He lost sight of her for a brief second as she rounded around a tree, but when he saw her again he hurled his broken sword straight at her back.

Lyra spun around the second Geno's weapon left his hand, and she began to glow. "Doppelganger!" Another copy appeared with a bright flash, just in time to take the hit for her. As the impaled copy fell, Geno heard the leaves ruffle behind him, and hopped forwards as a pair of clones slashed down at him with knives.

He was about to strike back, when a third landed on his back and stabbed him in the shoulder. He grunted in surprise, stumbled back, and fell as the copy hopped off the branch. Geno grabbed the copy's arm and threw her off, just as the other two clones fell after him. One swing of his chain cleaved through the first, and he rolled with the momentum to kick the second aside when she was close enough.

Geno landed hard on his feet, while the third copy crashed to the ground right next to him and disappeared. He groaned and stood up, plucking the knife from his shoulder. "Damn. Clever girl; that was pretty good!" He admired the weapon for a moment, then uncoiled his chain and re-tied it around his waist. It was then that he heard a peculiar banging noise somewhere deeper into the greenhouse.

It caught his attention because Lyra had been almost soundless the entire time. Not when she was hiding at least, talking was another story. This was definitely deliberate, and soon Geno took off in the direction of the noise.

Not long after, a trio of knives landed in the path in front of him. "Where do you think you're going?" Lyra stood perched on an overhead branch, clasping a total of eight knives between her fingers. "Don't ignore me!" Geno leaped into the air just as Lyra threw her knives. A handful of them grazed him, leaving the tinniest of cuts across Geno's torso, but he chopped clean through the branch she was standing on.

They both fell, but only Geno landed on his feet. Instead of following up however, he dashed away towards the banging sounds, which grew louder with each step he took.

Soon he found another clearing in what he figured was the corner of the greenhouse. The banging was coming from inside a small toolshed, and he heard a familiar voice call. "Somebody! Let me out!"

Geno ran up to the double doors, which had been crudely tied shut with a cord. Not wanting to waste time, he jabbed the jagged edge of his weapon between the door handles and, with a quick twist, tore the cord away handles and all.

A shovel swung through the doors the moment they opened, smacking Geno right on top of his head. He was dazed for a moment, but found Lir clutching the other end of the shovel when his vision cleared again. "Oops." She mumbled, looking apologetic. "You're one of Shelly's friends."

"Bloody hell..." He muttered, massaging the lump on his head while blood ran down his cheek. "You got a hell of a swing kid."

The rustle of leaves set him on alert, and he pulled Lir out of the way just as a barrage of knives rained down at them from the trees. "Dammit, why'd you have to go looking for her?" Lyra stepped out of the trees, followed by another, then another. Half a dozen Lyras lined the clearing, followed by another perched in the trees. She spun a knife between her fingers and gave a deep sigh. "Now I need to fight you, and find a new place to stash her away."

"How many of those knives do you have?" Geno chuckled, while Lir ducked behind him. "And where the hell are you keepin' them all?"

Lyra looked over her shoulder, growing embarrassed as one of her copies returned with an armful of retrieved throwing knives. "Shut up! It's none of your business."

She began ranting at him, or herself, there didn't seem to be much of a flow to her thought process. While she did, Geno nudged Lir with his elbow. "Break for the fountain lass." He said, keeping his eyes fixed on Lyra. "Shelly headed down some staircase around there."

Lir backed away from him, but looked confused. "Break the what?"

"Dammit, run!" Geno snapped. Lir flinched away, and a bunch of the Lyras rushed them both. Geno jumped forwards to intercept, and Lir dashed for the stone path leading away. Geno caught around five clones, keeping them at bay in a massive bear hug, but that was all he could handle. He began to slide back, and a pair of clones dashed towards Lir.

They closed on her in a second, and each one grabbed one of her puppy dog ears. Just as she was about to scream, a red blur shot out of the bush and dispatched the clones. It then carried on to knock out two more that Geno was dealing with. Taking the opportunity, Geno closed his arms around the remaining three, hoisted them up onto his shoulder, and dropped to his back in a suplex maneuver.

Geno rolled up to a sitting position, and grinned as Fiona skidded to a stop next to him. "Thought you were supposed to wait for us?" He chuckled.

"You're welcome." She hissed back. "I had an idea, so I thought I'd come help out."

"Well, thanks for that." Geno laughed again, noticing a small array of daggers strapped to Fiona's thigh. "Ha ha ha. Expecting a fight where ya?"

"Hello?" Lyra called, furious that she was being ignored. "Who the hell are you? What do you think you're doing here? I'm trying to-!"

"Sorry honey." Finoa interrupted, giving a condescending smile. "The adults are talking."

Lyra's face turned red, and with a wave of her hand a pair of clones jumped from the trees. Both were poised to rain more knives down on them, but Fiona dispatched them both with lightning fast knives of her own. She reached for a third to hit the one in the trees, but Lyra had vanished again.

Fiona huffed, resting her hand on her hip. "She's a slippery one..." She began undoing the small bun her hair had been done up in all day, rearranging it into her typical messy ponytail. She stopped just short of rolling the hem of her skirt up above her knife pouch, looking apprehensive. "Ugh, I really don't want to mess this dress up..." None the less, she extended a hand to help Geno up. "C’mon, I'll give you a hand with her."

Despite the offer, Geno shrugged and jumped to his feet himself. "Naw. Thanks, but I got it."

Fiona was surprised, Geno was bleeding all over. Sure, none of it was too bad, but it must've hurt. "Seriously? It looks like she's been kicking your ass this whole time."

"I was keeping an eye out for the kid." He shrugged, rolling some tension out of his shoulder. "Figured if I took out ninja lady, she'd clam up. So I let her run around a little. Like following a bird back to its nest to get the eggs." The broken sword he'd been using melted into a mass of blood and flowed back into the wound on his forearm, and the cloudiness in his one eye disappeared. "Now that the little lass is in the wind, we could probably bring this chick in any time we want."

Fiona glanced back to the stone pathway, finding Lir had taken off. "Oh-no." She gasped. "She's going to go after Lir again."

"That's alright, I know where she's goin'." He shrugged again.

"You're nuts." Fiona sighed, crossing her arms in annoyance. "What about her magic? How'll you tell which one's the real thing?"

"It's called Doppelganger." Geno sounded almost proud of himself. "And if it works the way I think it does, then we got this in the bag." His grin persisted, and he began wiping some of his spilled blood onto his hands. "All's I need to do is alter my, vision."

He put more emphasis on that last word, and Fiona became confused. "Your vision? What's that suppose to-?" She stopped dead when Geno drew a long line of blood across his shoulders, turning a sickly pail color. "Oh god no, don't do that. Not right in front of me." She begged. "God, you're magic is so gross."

Geno chuckled again as he drew another line through the first, down the back of his neck. The blood began to gurgle, and a bright blue glow began emanating from Geno's eye. "It ain't so bad. Being a little squeamish is a small price to pay for a win." Fiona spun away, holding her mouth as a bone sprouted from the back of Geno's neck and a bright blue light emanated from his right eye. "Now let's do this, 'Mammon!"

Next Chapter – Mutt