Chapter 33 - The Grand Unveiling

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

After the intense fighting, the Mages of Blazing Soul all stopped for a rest. Upon Shelly's request, Lir changed Amber back almost instantly. Not soon enough for her to comment on how cute she looked as a dog, but one stern look was all the convincing Lir needed. Once Amber was standing on two legs again, Shelly asked. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Amber said confidently, wiping a small bit of dried blood from her eyebrow. "My head kind of itches."

Kat gave a wide grin. "Maybe you've got flees?"

Amber did a double take, believing for just a second that that was even remotely possible. With an annoyed huff, she glanced back at the pool and raised her arm. "Armeria!" The dozens and dozens of her knives she'd summoned during the fight all rose from the pool, each melting into a shapeless mass and coming to form a belt around her stomach.

"Hey Guys!" Fiona came running down the hallway to join them, looking a little disappointed when she saw it was all over. "Aww, did I miss it?"

"Pretty much yeah." Axel shrugged, wringing out his soaked hat over the edge of the pool. "We beat the bad guy, I almost drowned, Amber turned into a dog..." He shook some of the water out of his hair before replacing his cap, then gave a somewhat sarcastic looking smile. "You know, the usual stuff."

"And we got the Rainbow Stone back!" Zeke said excitedly.

"Speaking of, I should really run this back." Kat piped up, tucking the sack containing the Rainbow Stone under her arm. "We've got like... Six minutes before the big reveal. So sis, can you...?" Fiona nodded, and Kat instantly sunk into a shadow on the floor. She zoomed off faster than any of them could ever run, so it gave them confidence that they had succeeded in time.

With most of the pressing matters aside, Shelly quickly returned her attention to Lir. "Are you ok?" She took hold of the girl's shoulders, looking for any sort of injury. "That creep didn't hurt you, did he?"

She franticly shook her head, her small puppy ears flapping with each motion, but slowly wrapped her arms around Shelly's stomach. "He said he'd kidnapped Sinann. And if I got the Rainbow Stone for him he'd let her go..."

It didn't look like Shelly knew how to comfort her at first, but she eventually returned her hug. "I see."

"But I tried to stop him." Lir said defensively, apparently thinking Shelly was upset with her. "I switched the signs outside so he'd get lost, and when I ran into you I thought..." She suddenly became sheepish, avoiding eye contact with all of them. "I thought you'd remember what happened last year if I changed you into a hamster again."

Shelly held her tongue, debating weather she should point out the mountain of flaws that she had with that plan. Ultimately she decided against it, beginning to grow embarrassed again. "Don't worry, I'm not mad." Lir's mood seemed to improve, but Shelly's level-headed thinking quickly made an appearance. "We should go get someone to arrest the thief. He might get away if he wakes up."

"Yeah, Geno's waiting for us too. We caught that other girl who was giving you trouble." Fiona added. "I'll go find one of the Council guys."

"Um... Can I go instead?" Amber asked, remembering something she'd promised herself to do. "I've kind of got some explaining to do."

Back in the main ballroom, Hanna stood next her partner, Florz Grapin. He stood at around her height with similar colored hair and a long red jacket. The two of them had been sent as representatives of the Magic Council, so apart from the boredom it was basically a paid day off. The one highlight of the day was when Hanna ran into a familiar face, but thing's hadn't gone quite as she had hoped. "So this Amber chick just blew you off?" Florz fought back a chuckle, trying not to annoy her.

Hanna huffed, taking a sip of water. "I wouldn't call it that..." She didn't mean to complain, but the way things had ended left a bad taste in her mouth. That and Florz was a detective just like her; he picked up on her mood almost the instant she returned. "She just kind of... Ran away, I guess."

"Can you really blame her?" Florz nudged Hanna on the shoulder when she grumbled under her breath. "Don't worry about it. If Payla was the first person I'd met on my first day, I wouldn't want to stick around much either."

"Still..." Hanna smiled, but it really didn't do her any good. Apparently this would be on her mind for quite a while. "She's in the same guild as Isa, so maybe that'll help set her at ease."

"Yeah, they got something in common. They both got bitched out by our boss." Hanna embowed him in the ribs, but it didn't stop him from laughing as he doubled over in pain. Suddenly the lights all dimmed, and a barrage of spotlights illuminated a stage with the event's host stood with a microphone in her hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen; if I could please have your attention, we will be starting the day's main event." Sinann waved for the guest's attention, and another spotlight followed the head butler as he wheeled a large cart carrying something concealed beneath a bright red curtain up on stage next to her. "Now, I'm sure you all have heard rumors that Omni-Corporation has been looking into new business ventures; but today, we can confirm that we are opening a new development branch."

The crowd collectively murmured in response. Some looked on in anticipation, others looked a little worried, while some had simply had too much to drink. For the two council mages waiting near the back of the room though, it meant nothing at all. "They love their showmanship, don't they?" Florz chuckled.

Hanna shushed him as Sinann circled the stage, taking hold of the curtain as the butler bowed away. "Well, without further ado; I present the cornerstone of our new division. The Rainbow Stone!"

"E-Excuse me?" Hanna looked away just as the crown began to applaud, finding the woman she'd met before holding one hand over her ear.

"Amber?" Hanna was stunned. She hadn't expected to be sought out again, not after how their last encounter had gone. "Y-yeah? What's up?" She blurted.

"Can... You come with me?" She said, pulling away from the crowd as they began to applaud again.

Her curiosity got the better of her as she glanced back at the brilliantly colored stone on stage next to Sinann, but she soon nodded and followed Amber out into the hallway. Despite the dim lighting, Hanna noticed that Amber's clothes where soaked, and she seemed to be clutching her side. "Are you alright?" Amber glanced back at her, and she noticed a cut just above her eyebrow that definitely wasn't there the first time they talked. "What happened to you?"

"it's just a scratch." Amber shook her head, holding some of her hair over her eye in an attempt to hide the cut. "But... There's kind of a lot to tell."

Around half an hour had passed since the Rainbow Stone's unveiling, but compared to how most of the day had crawled by, everything seemed to move lightning fast. Hanna was brought up to speed by the time they arrived at the pool house, and agreed to take Thain away discreetly without disturbing the event. Kat returned too, saying that Sinann would be joining them shortly back in the dressing room.

Not everything went smoothly however, as someone had gone missing by the time Hanna had returned with a handful of knights. "So..." Fiona began massaging her forehead, exasperated after hearing the story of what had become of their acquaintance Lyra. "You just left her alone?"

"I had to take a leek." Geno shrugged, apparently missing how he was at fault. "We left her tied to a tree, how was I suppose to know she'd up and take off like that?"

"She. Was. Under. Arrest!" Fiona barked, apparently giving herself a headache in the process. "Why the hell wouldn't she-."

"OK, ok, forget it." Kat interrupted. She didn't look as mad as Fiona, but still seamed disappointed. "We foiled their plans, so that's enough. There's no way she'd be dumb enough to try again on the same day."

Though her temper seemed to improve slightly, Fiona looked sceptical. "You didn't meet her."

At that moment, Sinann burst through the door with Ramosa trailing behind her. She dove straight at Lir, who was sitting on one of the couches between Shelly and Axel. "Are you ok little sis?" Kat had filled her in on what had happened, but she still appeared unnerved as she took Lir's shoulders.

"Uh-huh." Lir simply nodded her head. It had only taken a minute for her usual upbeat attitude to return after Thain had been defeated, but she still hadn't let go of Shelly's arm until Sinann had arrived. "Your friends saved me."

"What happened?" The butler demanded. Evidently, Kat thought it best to leave him out of the loop.

"There was a thief." Shelly explained. "Someone tried to steal the Rainbow Stone. A mage who used Wood-Make magic." She glanced at Lir, suddenly wondering if Ramosa would get mad if he heard Lir's full involvement. "And Lir..."

"He threatened her." Zeke cut in, jumping from the top of Axel's head to Lir's shoulder. "But we kicked the guy's ass and got the stone back no problem!"

It took Ramosa a moment to process that, apparently doing a mental checklist in his head. "I see. You didn't break anything, did-?"

"Oh, I don't care Ramosa!" Sinann snapped. "I can replace anything they might have broke in a heartbeat. Just lay off for a second."

The butler took a suppressed step back, but quickly regained his composer and bowed. "Yes, master Omnison." Feeling he had overstayed his welcome, probably for the first time in his life, Ramosa headed for the door and motioned for Lir to follow. "Well, tis been a long day. Ms. Omnison, if you will, I shall escort you to your chambers." It wasn't that late into the afternoon, but Lir didn't utter a word of argument. Considering the day she'd had, nobody blamed her.

Having been uncharacteristically quiet since the Council mages left, and with the silence in the dressing room, Axel brought something up that he's been thinking on for a while. "You know guys; I've been wondering... How'd that Thain guy even know about the Rainbow Stone?" He glanced at Amber and Shelly. "I mean; he said someone hired him, didn't he?"

The others all exchanged quizzical glances, but Sinann gave an exhausted sigh. "Well, this is a big house, with a lot of staff." She shrugged. "People talk, someone overhears, tells a friend. It could be any number of things."

"But why steal the Rainbow Stone?" Shelly added, cupping her chin as she thought. "You guys said that it's a lacrima, right? He couldn't have sold it as an actual gem, could he?"

"Think so?" Geno chuckled. "I mean; all it takes is the right dumbass-."

"Really?" Fiona interrupted. "You're going to make that argument after what you did today?"

"In all likelihood, it was probably a competitor." Sinann added, sounding a little too ok with the thought than she probably should have been. "We’ve been hyping up this big reveal today for a while now, but kept the stone itself a secret." Amber began to have a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, like there was something she was forgetting. "So if we suddenly had nothing to show, we'd look bad and nobody would take us seriously."

"Wait, you didn't tell anybody?" Shelly asked, glancing at Amber as Sinann nodded. "But someone asked us about it. One of the guests."

"Us?" Amber looked confused, but her eyes widened when she remembered another encounter she'd had today. Mostly because the person in question sent a creepy shiver up her spine. "Oh. That guy Raven's team was working for." She touched a finger to her lips, straining to remember what exactly had happened. "I think he said he worked for..."

"LIT Tech?" Kat suggested.

Shelly and Amber where both stunned, but it was Axel who spoke up first. "How'd you know?"

"Lyra." She said simply, like it was supposed to be obvious. "Bowl cut, caries a bunch of knives, kind of bratty..." Most of them giggled at that last bit, but Kat continued on without skipping a beet. "She works for them. As a bodyguard for one of their VP's, or something. Shaw, or whatever his name was. Haven't seen her for a few years though; guess that's why you didn't recognise her, Fiona."

Everyone was stunned, the story seemed almost too convenient to be true. Sure, Kat was a goofball, but she wasn't a liar. "We should tell Hanna." Shelly proposed confidently. "If he hired a mage to do something illegal, then the Council should know about it."

Kat exchanged glances with Sinann, who both chuckled slightly. "I wouldn't bother." Kat shrugged, carrying an air of seriousness in her voice. "They probably won't be able to do anything about it either."

"Are you serious?" Axel huffed in annoyance, and one look around the room made it clear that he wasn't the only one. "If he's involved, then they should-."

"Can ya prove it?" Kat interrupted, stopping Axel's argument cold. "No mater how much she likes us; Hanna would need more to go on than just a suspicion."

That didn't sit right with any of then, least of all Shelly. "But if Lir got hurt..."

"Lir's fine, and you caught the thief. I'd call that a good day's work." Kat flopped down between Shelly and Axel. "Besides, even if you had some evidence against Shaw, it probably wouldn't stick."

Almost everyone opened their mouth to ask why, but Sinann had the answer for them already. "If the bodyguards of one company accuse the other of sabotage, all they'd have to do is cry conspiracy. And we'd be tied up in a legal battle for years. Even then, there's no way to know if he was working on his own, or was following an order from his higher ups."

Every one of them where stunned into silence, failing to come up with any kind of counter argument. "That ain't right." Geno mumbled.

"I didn't say it was. But don't worry, I've already set up something to get back at him." Annoyance and discomforting emptions where all replaced by confusion. A transition that Kat couldn't help but be amused at. "Well... It's not like some other members of Blazing Soul are here right now, watching the back of a certain executive as he makes his exit."

"Oh, Kat..." Fiona moaned, catching on instantly. "What've you done?"

She flashed them her usual goofy grin, but the door opened before she said anything and Rift joined them. "There you all are." He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Where've you been?" Shelly huffed.

"Oh, you know, trying to entertain myself. The boredom is killing me." He flashed them a grin of his jagged teeth, and what he said caused everyone but Kat and Sinann to shoot him a death glair. "See? What'd I tell ya? Nothing ever happens at these big parties."

It was getting close to dinner time as a carriage pulled up to the Lowindel's port. Departing said carriage was one Sven Shaw, on his way back to head office after Omni Corp's event had officially ended. In tow where three mages, acting as bodyguards. Terra marched along behind, with Mace right beside her. Next to the VIP, the albino Raven Tyran kept glancing in their employer's direction. "Something buggin' you?" He said with a grin, gesturing to a magic display that hadn't left his hand since they left the Omnison estate. "You look kinda' pissed."

"The day just hasn't gone how I would have liked." He mumbled, scrolling through the almost constant barrage of messages he was receiving. He increased his pace slightly, seemingly trying to get away from his escorts. "Really though, it's no trouble. I can make it to my ship myself."

"No need to be modest." Terra yawned, stretching her arms out behind her.

"We'll finish the job when you're on your way." Mace added in a cold tone.

Sven stuffed the magic display into the pocket of his suit and grumbled something under his breath, but didn't actually voice a complaint. After a minute they turned onto a dock where Sven's private yacht was moored, just as a small crew had finished refuelling. Sven spun on his heel just as he was about to pass under a tented walkway that lead to the boarding platform. "Well, thank you for your commitment, but I believe I have things handled from here."

"Well, long as you're sure." Raven chuckled, and the three of them all turned to leave. "Because you never know."

At the far end of the dock, a hand appeared from the shadow of a building. Whoever it was flexed their fingers, and the metal leg of the tent began to groan. With a quick spin of the hand, the leg twisted itself apart, bringing the entire structure down.

"Look out!" Terra called diving back at Sven to tackle him out of the way. The two of them looked back just as half a dozen creatures sprang forth from the water at the end of the dock. Each wore a green hood that obscured their face, and three long metal claws hung out of each sleeve.

A glowing sword appeared in Mace's hand with a flash, but Raven stepped up first. "I got it." The hooded creatures soared through the air at them, and Raven summoned a fireball in the palm of his hand. "First Spell: Agni!" A blast of fire washed through the air, much like the spit of a flamethrower. The creatures flew over the ship and Raven's flames followed suit, all while emanating a high pitched roar.

The whole event took only a few seconds, but soon the hoods disappeared and Raven's flames dissipated. Sven slowly rolled over, eyeing the crumpled heap of metal and fabric that had once stood over the gangway. "What-?"

"No fair!" Terra jumped to her feet and began jabbing her finger into Raven's chest. "I wished to fight too!"

"What's wrong with you?" Sven shouted, pointing up at his ship. Unnoticed to the others, a massive scorch mark had been left near the top, caused when Raven carelessly trying to chase the hooded creatures off. "Do you have any idea how much this thing costs? It's not even mine, it's the companies!"

"Aww, come on dude. We where just doing our job." Raven flashed him a devilish grin, and his voice took on a rather condescending tone. "If your boss gives you shit, just say you where under attack." Sven huffed, fixated on the blistering metal of his vessel. "Besides, boats are replicable right? It's not like that Rainbow Stone thing. Now I bet that'd be hard to replace."

Sven finally tore his eyes away from his ship. "What did you say?"

"You know, the Rainbow Stone." Terra said in an innocent voice.

"The thing they where showing off back there." Mace mumbled, currently in the process of trying to light a cigarette. Despite the wind, he finally succeeded and took a long puff. "Right after was when you stared acting all tense."

Sven took a shallow step back, but readjusted his tie and smiled. "I don't know what you think you're imply-."

"Mr. Shaw!" A woman appeared over the side of the ship, waving the smoke of the still smoldering metal out of her face. "What’s going on?!"

"Nothing Lyra." He said through gritted teeth. "Our bodyguards where just-."

"Leaving, right." Raven interrupted, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Right, we got a train to catch. Let's get moving." Without another word, the three mages all turned and left, leaving Sven and a handful of attendants behind.

A few minuets later, just as they found the carnage again, someone jumped out from an ally and wrapped their arms around Ravens neck as he passed. Instead of fighting back however, he gave a tired sigh as a familiar head of chestnut colored hair nuzzled into his cheek. "Wow darling, that was incredible." Clair cooed.

"Did ya have to be so rough though?" Waylind stepped out after her, holding a small scrap of smoldering green cloth. "Bein' my creation and all, I kind of feel for 'em. You know?"

"You agreed to this, same as the rest of us." Mace stated.

"Now, now." Terra flicked down the rim of Waylind's hat, trying to stop what she thought would turn into an argument. "Master Kat asked us for a favor. We should be glad to help."

"Yeah, even if it might have cost us our paycheck." Raven quipped sarcastically. He glanced over his shoulder for any sign of complaint, but there wasn't a single hint of dissatisfaction within the group. With a small chuckle, and after shaking out of Clair's grip, Raven continued on. "Because, you know, we did almost set our boss on fire, after all."

Next Chapter – No Record