Phoenix

A Surprise Awaits

"What was that?"

"An asshole snake who got what it deserved."

Emi walked over to the snake to try to look at it closer when she was pulled back by Sting.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm trying to see what it is. It doesn't look like a normal snake, so I wanted to see what was so strange about it."

"Can't you see that it's dangerous? Get away from it."

Emi exhaled and backed away from the mutated animal. Sting tugged her further away from it and continued on into the forest. Emi struggled to keep up as her arm was being pulled, so she planted her feet into the ground to make him stop.

"Sting, I can walk by myself."

"You're just going to keep getting yourself in trouble."

"What are you talking abo--"

Sting stopped walking and turned around to glare at her.

"Your curiosity is going to kill you one day. You would think that you would be more careful given your situation, but you're not. You're going to get in a lot of trouble one day and I'm not helping you. I swear you're so aggravating sometimes. Why can't you just listen to someone else instead of doing your own thing and risk getting everyone killed?"

Emi stayed silent before the quietest sniffle escaped her. Sting heard it since his ears were extra sensitive during the spring and rolled his eyes.

"Great, now you're gonna cry the whole time. Why don't you just go back to town and stay there so you don't distract me. You're willing to go touch a clearly mutated snake yet you refuse to take off your hood. Unbelievable."

"Can dragon slayers really get that mean during spring?" Levy questioned as she watched the memory of Emi starting to cry.

"Unfortunately," Rogue answered.

Emi stayed silent as she walked past Sting and continued deeper into the forest without looking back to see if he was following her. She eventually disappeared from his sight. Sting sighed before trying to catch up to her, but he couldn't see or smell her anywhere.

"I hate this day," Sting muttered.

"Where the hell did she go?"

Emi had caught sight of another snake and quickly dodged its attack before stabbing it with her Dagger Strike spell. She picked it up once she was sure it was dead and saw that a thin purple film was covering the otherwise white snake. Emi's eyes widened in realization. She sprinted towards the middle of the forest, killing any other mutated snakes as she went.

"Well well. Look who we have here."

"I thought I killed you," Emi seethed.

"Holy shit. They can come back from the dead?!" Nastu screamed.

"She didn't die, Natsu. That's the whole problem."

Natsu turned to Emi before shouting, "But I thought you had the scar for her death."

Lust laughed as she commanded a huge snake to lunge at her. Emi hissed before casting her Cloudkill spell, calling a huge poison fog to surround the Sin.

"Oh? You think poison will affect me? How pitiful."

Emi was thrown back by a sharp wind, knocking her back through five trees. She coughed as the dust began to settle.