Fairy Tail: Swallow the Fire

30. Breathe

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Jose and I walked back to the apartment where Totomaru was waiting for us.

Neither one of us spoke, and his disdain at the fact that I had pretended to be unconscious was evident in his silence alone. Still, I fulfilled his conditions to get the reward I needed.

When we got to the door of the apartment he stopped and turned around, handing me a small bronze key with the Phantom Lord guild logo on it. "It's a warp key. It'll send you on a one-way trip to the Phantom Lord headquarters in the mountains behind Oak Town."

Taking the item from his hand without a word, I moved to enter the room before his hands landed on my shoulder, "And Lyssa?"

"What."

Obviously displeased with my annoyed tone, Jose's grip tightened on me. I could feel some of my bones popping and breaking but my face didn't change from one of indifference. "Next time I ask of you for something, I expect you to not hold back when doing so."

He walked away afterwards without giving me a moment to respond.

Inside I saw Totomaru sitting on his bed reading something from Sorcerer Weekly magazine. When I moved to sit on my bed, he looked at me with curiosity in his eyes. "Sooo? How'd it go?"

"It ended in a draw."

"Wait, really?" he said in shock as he sat up on the bed. "Was this girl that strong or something?"

"She'd beat you without a problem, I can say that much," I said as I rubbed my forehead my skin began to feel clammy. "But my healing outpaced her. I just pretended to be knocked out after the last attack."

"Ah, I get it."

"You do?"

"You decided to let Fairy Tail save some face. A draw on both sides will be better than the smaller guild getting beaten by the larger one."

"Yeah..."

"But what made you decide to do that? You usually don't hold back."

"I don't know! Do you want me to murder everyone I come across? Because I could easily do that. End up with a bounty on my head and labelled a dark wizard. It would be fun!"

Both of us seemed to be surprised by the sudden venom in my voice, causing me to cradle my head in my hands.

"Sorry. Something happened in the fight and my head is just..."

Totomaru placed his arm around my shoulder, "I get it. You don't need to say anything more. I drew a bath for you when I heard the fighting stop, and figured it would be a nice reward. Why don't you take the opportunity to clear your head?"

"Thank you, Totomaru..." I gave him a brief hug before standing up and making my way to the bathroom.

"Just let me know if you need anything."

Stepping into the bathroom I started to strip down, but the sight of myself in the mirror caused me to stop. Dirt, grime, and blood had begun to cake up in my hair and dry on my skin.

In that brief instant, the image in the mirror changed to that of a young girl dressed in rags, covered in a similar mess. Her red hair matched the blood that stained the improvised armour she had on, and her brown eyes looked at me as they curved with happiness.

The image of a younger Erza vanished with a blink, revealing my demonic state to be standing there in its place. My breathing became heavy and fast as my body began to lose any feeling of warmth. It felt like my skin was going to crack as I became colder and colder.