May 14th, X524 (5 AM)
Crystal Health Institution, IceFlask City

"Finally, Angel's condition is getting better," Meredy said with a relieved sigh.

      Until now, the silver-haired young lady was in an unstable state. The stab wound was treated by the sensory maiden and the sky maiden immediately after the injury so it wasn't life-threatening. But, Angel being Angel, feeling guilty or ashamed of her past sins, broke the contact with her celestial spirits and gave the keys to the blonde princess. Not only that, she destroyed her celestial spirit magic by herself. This resulted in her body being burdened by her unbalanced magic power, which threatened her life again.

      After Meredy and IceFlask Town's healers suppressed Angel's extremely surging angel magic for hours, her magic power became stable. Meredy stayed in the infirmary the whole night to take care of Angel. After all, looking after Angel was a task given by Jellal-sama and Erza-chan.

• • • • •

8:50 AM
Mayor's Manor, IceFlask City

"Sir Fullbuster, three patrolling guards inform me that they found an unconscious young lady in a cave in the forest. I've sent her to the infirmary but. I'm afraid the healers can't heal her. She's still in coma, Sir," the Mayor of IceFlask City informed the black-haired ice mage who was about to leave the house.

"DeepTree Forest?" Gray asked in surprise, his eyebrows narrowed in slight confusion, for the reason why a girl appeared unconscious in the forest as the commoners were forbidden to go into the woods. He was sure that she wasn't an Oracion Sies member because they had captured all the dark guild members.

"I'll tell my friend to heal her so you can leave this matter to me," Gray replied, "I'm counting on your guards for patrolling the forest and this city. Thank you for your help, Mayor Logan."

"Pleasure is all ours, Sir," the mayor replied while giving a gesture of respect before he departed.

       Gray didn't waste time as he retreated his steps, canceling his plan to visit the city. His destination was the guest's room where his female comrades were staying. He tended to find Meredy whether she could heal that unconscious girl.

   The ice mage knocked on the door, and after a split second, the blue-haired girl came to open the door, "Gray-sama?"

"Juvia, is Meredy here?"

"No," Juvia replied, "Meredy-san stayed in the infirmary the whole night. May Juvia know why Gray-sama is asking?" She asked him with curiosity.

"There is a patient who needs a healer," He answered simply, "Guess I have to go straight to the infirmary building. Thanks, Juvia."

      Before Juvia could talk, an exciting chant of "Wait wait wait" echoed throughout the room. Within a mere minute, a young bluette wearing a blue plain midi dress, a cerulean-colored hat, with a blue scarf wrapped around her neck which covered her mouth and nose, rushed to stand beside the water maiden.

"Wendy-chan!!"

"I'll come with you guys.. please." She said as she looked at Gray with her sparkling eyes, "Gray-san, I want to go outside. I'm in disguise. Please let me tag along with you. With you and Juvia-chan, I'm sure I'll be safe."

      Not wanting to neglect the cute princess, Gray agreed. Three of them went to their destination.

• • • • •

9 AM
Crystal Health Institution, IceFlask City

"I told you, she doesn't possess any magic."

"What? Are you implying that it is our fault? Don't look down on us, solely because we don't have healing magic."

     The noises from outside woke Meredy up. She didn't expect that she fell asleep with her head resting on her hands on the table. She looked at her pocket watch, it was nine in the morning.

"You look tired, Meredy-san. That's why I don't wake you up," the medical carer in charge of Angel said as she carried a tray full of snacks and a cup of milk, "I have prepared some snacks and drink for you. Please have breakfast, Meredy-san."

"Thank you, Ria-san," Meredy smiled. Ria, the kind medical attendant, went out to prepare her breakfast. The reason why Meredy woke up was because she heard the noises when Ria-san opened the door to come into the room.

"Ria-san, do you know what they're talking about?" She asked after finishing her cup of milk.

"They're talking about the patient next door. Her condition is kinda weird."

"Ohh, I'm curious, hehe."

      After having some cookies, Meredy exited the room, only to find out that three healers and two physicians were in a heated conflict in front of the next room. Being an inquisitive girl, the pinkette went closer and looked inside through the opened door. She saw the sight of a girl lying on the bed.

     Other elders noticed Meredy who smiled apologetically for an excuse. Before she could retreat, one of the healers, who treated Angel together with her, asked her if she could take a look at the girl inside.

     Then a series of explanations greeted Meredy. She finally understood why their discussion was very intense. Healers thought it was the physician's duty to cure the girl's internal injury. Two physicians strongly believed that her unconsciousness was not due to her injury.

     Meredy sighed quietly, not knowing how to explain to them her occupation. The healers recognized her ability for performing a high-class healing spell a day ago. However, she was not an actual healer... She could perform healing spells only. She wasn't an actual physician at all... She only knew the knowledge of human anatomy and medicine because studied under a commoner physician for two years.

      Walking inside and listening carefully to every explanation, Meredy looked at the girl; the girl was around her age, had violet-colored hair, and a pale complexion. Her beautiful face was as peaceful as a sleeping angel's.

"I'm sure that her internal organs are all undamaged, and she doesn't show any other signs beside her unconsciousness. I'm not sure why she is still in a coma," a female physician sighed, "I've already examined her body, the cuts she received are not severe. well, there is a scary tattoo on her back."

"Don't blame us the healers. As I said, I've already healed her external bruises," one of the healers stated, "This girl has no magic power, so the cause of her coma isn't her magic."

      There was no doubt in the skills of these professional healers and physicians. At the moment, what attracted Meredy was the scary tattoo that the female physician talked about.

"Can you give me a moment alone, please? I would like to see that tattoo in case it isn't normal," Meredy requested politely. She knew that it was rude to drive the elders out, but, for a reason, she had to do this.

      When the physicians and healers left the room, Meredy turned the girl to the lateral position with the help of the assistant who was taking care of the girl. The dress was unzipped, showing her bare back with the so-called strange tattoo on her back.  Meredy gasped. The snake tattoo was large and purple-colored, its length occupied her upper back to the upper part of her lower back. The snake was like a snake hissing with its head up, as the body of the snake coiled up. It was scarier than it was described, in addition to the thought that such a disguising snake figure was tattooed on the back of a young beauty.

"What did this girl suffer in the past? This is the second time I saw her tattoo, but it still sent a chill down my spines" the female assistant whispered, "Healers can't heal her, and potions don't work on her. What a pitiful girl."

    Meredy stared at the snake tattoo for a few seconds before casting a healing spell. But it was in vain, as the girl was in the same condition as before. The sensory mage sighed and sat down on a nearby chair. Seeing her movement, the female assistant zipped the violet-haired girl's dress and laid her back in a supine position.

"Is it a blood curse?" Meredy thought with a slight fear. She was interested in ancient magic and magic spells. All of her knowledge was from the books, as she didn't have a special tutor that taught her, even her weird second magic was self-taught. She sighed as recalled what she memorized in books.

     Blood Curse.. is a kind of ancient dark magic spell that turns a human into a non-human form which the caster desires. The victim becomes a slave working for the caster.....

• • • • •

9:45 AM

     Meredy didn't know how long she had been spacing out until her name was called out by the familiar voices. She looked upward to see her water user friend, the black-haired ice mage, and the young princess standing in front of her, and looking at her worriedly. The female assistant left the room.

     Sensing that the pinkette looked stressed, Gray asked, "Meredy, can you heal her?"

     Meredy shook her head, "Healing spells and potions don't work on her current situation." It was true, all external bruises and wounds were healed by the healers, what was left was that creepy curse which these healing spells were not useful to use, "I'm afraid, even Wendy-chan can't heal her."

"Why?"

"I think she is under a blood curse," Meredy stated, "One of the cruelest ancient dark spells in the past. The legend said that the blood curse could turn a human into a creature that obeyed the caster's command. In other words, the victim's consciousness was trapped somewhere as the curse took control of the creature. The victim turned back to his human form only if the caster died. Do you know why it was the cruelest of all dark spells? Because, even if the victim gained his original human form, overcoming the trial of the blood curse was too difficult. So the curse would take him over again eventually, and then this time he would be stuck in his monstrous form forever. Of course, healing spells and potions are useless against such spell."

      The black-haired guy looked at her with disbelief, "So do you mean you believe that," he pointed at the girl, "she is under the blood curse?"

"Yes, I think she is the giant snake of Oracion Seis. With her current situation... she is in coma without any other injuries... because her mind is trapped in the blood curse," Meredy replied, solely based on the evidence of the snake tattoo. However, since the beginning, she had not seen the purple giant snake that caught the young princess. Thus, she needed confirmation, "Wendy-chan, what do you think?"

"I don't know," Wendy replied slowly, "I mean," she stopped for a moment to organize her words, "her scent is different from Cubellio's. As for magic, I can't detect her magic power now, so I can't tell exactly. It's just... her hair color is the same as the snake's color. It's bad if we accuse her that she is Cubellios just because of her hair color, isn't it?"

"Is it essential whether this girl is a snake or not?" Gray asked impatiently, after listening to the mystery.

"Yes, it is," the pinkette replied immediately, "Let's say... she is Oracion Seis's snake, we can conclude that she is under the blood curse cast by Oracion Seis Master, and maybe we can find a way to wake her up."

"How do you know that she's under the blood curse?"

"Oh right, that is," Meredy sweatdropped, "I forgot." She was too preoccupied with the thought of how to cure the girl and stop her blood curse. Her recklessness did tell Wendy to confirm the result with sky dragon slayer sense instead of showing her the snake tattoo.

"A snake tattoo on her back that is a sign of the blood curse. Gray-sama, can you please go outside? We've to undress her."

"Alright. Alright. Call me if you girls finish."

• • • • •

10:50 AM

     Meredy's guess was right. The purple-haired girl was indeed Cubellios of Oracion Seis. The group went back to the manor, with Gray carrying the unconscious girl. The group informed the Crown Prince immediately while Meredy and Juvia placed the girl in their room.

     The fewer people knew about Cubellios, the better, because the real snake she would become after the blood curse had reactivated was too powerful. At the moment, Erza and Lyon were interrogating the captured dark guild members in the IceFlask VIP prison, while Laxus and Lucy were in the downtown.

     Right now, their priority was to wake the girl from coma. The blue-haired Crown Prince had no choice but order to bring Cobra to the mayor's manor. At least, they hoped that the poison dragon slayer knew the solution to deal with.

• • • • •

11:30 AM

     At first, Cobra couldn't believe it when the black-haired ice mage came to meet him and explained it to him. 'Cubellios is a human? and she is under a spell cast by Brain? And her life is in danger now?'

     It didn't matter if Cubellios was a snake or a human, she was still his friend... his dearest friend who had been fighting together with him. He wanted to save her. From Gray's explanation, the blood curse couldn't be undone by other magics. The only way to overcome the blood curse depended on Cubellios. Thus, he agreed to have a try.

    And there, she was... lying motionlessly on the bed, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. The closer he walked, the clearer her figure came into his vision. A girl who looked much younger than him was no longer his serpent friend Cubellios. Very little thing he could feel now was the slightly familiar presence of his trusted comrade. He put his handcuffed hands on her arm to shake her.

"Cubellios, Wake up."

• • • • •

A world created by the blood curse

     Dark surroundings... it looked like a dream realm... there was a giant snake statue in the middle. A seven-year-old young girl was lying supine on the ground at the feet of the statue stone, with her legs and hands being tied to the ground by the strings. Her violet hair was short, she was wearing an old brown dress, which rims were torn, and holes in her cloth.

     Every time she tried to get up, her head started aching, and the next moment, she lost her consciousness. It was when the nightmares appeared, and tormented her emotionally.

 "You useless kid, you can't steal a single jewel for me. You stupid kid," Endless curses, beating and kicking from her drunkard father in the past was so real even though it was a dream. What she felt was like hell.

"I told you to tidy the room before the guests arrive.. but what. you're so slow and lazy, you can't finish the cleaning. You deserve punishments," Sharp pain followed the contact of her skin and the whip by the mistress she worked when she was six.

     She didn't know what had happened to her. She couldn't endure these evil people anymore, but she couldn't break through her mind which was harmed by these nightmares. Thus, all she could do was close her eyes and stay still. She wished someone would rescue her soon.

"Cubellios" she heard a tender male voice. "Wake up."

'Cubellios? What is Cubellios?' In her conscious mind, that voice sounded familiar.

"Wake up girl. I know you can do it."

'Is he talking to me?'

"Wake up, and come back to me."

     The gentle voice gave her courage. She tried to get up. 'Ahh' As expected, a severe headache greeted her. She forced herself not to fall asleep.

"Wait up... Kinana."

'Huh,' She wondered if he was calling to her. But her name wasn't Kinana... No, she didn't have her name. Her father called her 'kiddo', and her mistress named her 'Lazy'.

Kinana?? She remembered that Kinana was a character in a story that the young daughter of her Mistress liked.

'Yeah... I want to write... I want to read books... I want to be a carefree joyful kid running under the sunlight... I simply wished to be freed.'

   These were simple wishes from a seven-year-old kid.

    Little did she know, her wishes were the ones that led her to a new world. Withstanding the obstacles, she moved her right hand forcefully. Surprisingly, a string that tied her hand wasn't too strong that it broke by her strength. After freeing herself, she stood up slowly and checked the surrounding for the first time. It was when a bright light shone upon the dark surrounding. She could still hear the gentleman's voice which was calling her. She stepped forward, and walking towards the light slowly.
^_^