~*****~

"How the hell did we manage to get lost." I ask irritably while Lucy complains loudly.

"Man, I want some food," Natsu complains.

"We all want some food, just talking about it makes us hungrier!" Gray retorts almost-- definitely full of rage, not almost.

"I can't help it if I'm hungry, jerk!" Natsu shouts.

"No, but you can stop running your mouth, can't you?" Gray shouts back.

"Listen up!" Makarov stops their bickering. "We need some food." He groans.

"Yeah, we know!" Natsu and Gray shout.

"Enough!" Erza snaps, but the growl in her stomach seems to agree with all the talk of food.

I snort and smirk lightly. "You're stomach's singing a different tune, Erza."

"You're hearing things!" Erza snaps at me.

"We would've had food if Natsu hadn't eaten the rations I'd packed the first hour after we'd left Magnolia." I comment dryly.

"I was hungry!" Natsu complains.

"That was a weeks worth of rations, Natsu!" I snap at him.

We all groan and rub our foreheads.

Happy all of a sudden squeals in utter delight. "Why're you so happy?" Natsu asked as we trailed over to the cliff edge.

A literal fish flies through the air, screaming, I can fly. "Those are winged fish! They're a legendary delicacy!" Happy explains. "And they're super yummy from what I hear!" He begins to panic, shouting rapidly just how yummy they were.

"Legendary Delicacy, huh?" Gray hums.

"Winged Fish, huh?" Erza adds.

"Sounds good to me," Natsu grins.

Makarov places his palm on Happy's shoulder, tears running down his face and his stomach growling loudly. "Well done, Happy. You make this old man very proud."

"Guys, enough with the growling stomachs!" Lucy complains.

As if on cue, her stomach growls loudly. "You were saying?" Gray teases.

"Shut up!" Lucy hisses.

Happy produces a pole and holds it up. "Now-- time to fish!"

"You guys have fun, I'm not hungry," I mention. I lean against a large boulder as everyone stares at me. "What?"

"There's no way you're not hungry--" Gray scoffs.

My stomach growls angrily but I just ignore it. "I just don't like fish. I'll leave that to the cat."

"Sounds good to me!" Happy chirps as I doze off. Which was a chore in upon itself, listening to Happy shout.

When I wake up, it's hearing Happy complain about the fish being disgusting. "How'd the fishing go?" I ask.

"We only caught one lousy stinkin' fish, and Happy didn't even like it." Natsu complained.

"I don't know about you, but all the fishing just made me hungrier," Gray complained as we started walking again.

"A village!" Erza says all of a sudden.

"Houses!" Gray gasps.

"And that means there must be..." Happy trails off.

"FOOD!" Natsu cheers louder than anyone. I sigh loudly as I trail behind them, rubbing at my bare arms.

"There's no one here," I hear Gray murmur.

"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy hums.

Natsu hummed. "Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something." I shrug as he glances at me. "Hey!" Natsu calls out. "Anybody here?"

"WE'RE STARVING LIKE CRAZY OUT HERE!" Happy shouts. "SOMEBODY COOK US SOME DINNER!"

"Wow, Happy, ever hear of the word please?" Lucy questions.

"You really think the whole towns taking a nap?" Gray asks.

I shunt my ruined jacket over my shoulder. "Well, it's either that, or they all got drunk and passed out." I comment.

"I think that only happens back at the guild," Lucy hums.

Makarov chuckles. "We do love our spirits, don't we?" Makarov says.

Natsu grasps my arm quickly and starts trying to tug me along. "You guys can hang around here all day, but I'm gonna find a kitchen to raid! C'mon Aria!"

"Shame on you for even thinking about robbing this place, Natsu!" Gray shouts as he joins us.

"You're just mad I thought of it first!" Natsu shouts as I run along limply.

I hang back as Natsu pounds on the door of the first house we come upon. My brow quirks a little as the door opens easily. "Looks like nobody's here." Gray hums as we trail inside.

"Who cares? There's food." Natsu hums happily. He plucks a loaf of bread up and takes a whiff before ripping it in two, the other being passed to me. "It's still fresh! Open wide!"

"Not so fast," I say.

"What is it now?" Natsu complains.

"Don't you think this is all a little strange?" I say as I prop my hands on my hips, the half loaf I'd been given sitting on the table.

"She's right. Who would leave a table full of food just sitting there like that?" Gray asks. "And if somebody cooked this, then where the heck are they now?"

"How should I know?" Natsu grumbles. "Anyway, ready to dig in, Happy?" Natsu asks as Happy sits on the table with the bread.

"Aye!" Happy beamed.

I place my palm on the bread and just stare at him. "But I'm hungry, Aria!" He complains.

"Natsu," He flinches visibly as Erza speaks. "We need to investigate the village first. We've held out this long. We can hold on a little--"

Her stomach screams this time, nearly shaking the house with its complaints. "I think your stomach might have different plans." Lucy giggles.

"Yes, but which one do we listen to?" Makarov questions.

"Search the area for mushrooms or anything that looks edible!" Erza commands. "And don't eat the food in the village, okay? While you're all doing that, Master and I will try to figure out what's going on!" Erza's stomach growls and growls throughout her entire command.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu sighs. "I hear ya. Let's go, Happy."

"Why... Why mushrooms?" I ask curiously.

~*****~

The surrounding forest seemed to be full of fungus. As far as the eye can see-- different types of spores that grew on different surfaces. "Stupid Erza, how am I supposed to get full on a bunch of mushrooms?" Natsu complained. "That food back there looked really good, too!"

"Hey, mushrooms," Gray hums as they stop besides me.

"I take it back, these look tasty!" Natsu cheers.

"But why mushrooms?" Lucy asks, echoing my question from earlier.

"It's so obvious, Lucy." We both hum at Happy's declaration. "Natsu's gonna eat a poisonous mushroom, then something weird will happen to him. You know the cliche, right?"

Natsu's already horfing down mushrooms. "Give me some credit, Happy," Natsu says through a full mouth. "You really think I'd fall for some lame gag like that? No way!"

I sigh audibly and palm at my face. "Those are poisonous." I mention. He spits them out almost immediately before going for more. "Those, too." He swallows one before he starts choking. I palm my face again and when I peer back up, there's a large mushroom growing from atop his head. "I'm surrounded by idiots." I mention irritably.

"What are you all worked up about?" Gray asks. He's sporting a large, blue mushroom on his head.

"Just take a look at one another, okay?" Lucy sighs.

They body begin to laugh hysterically at the mushrooms on their heads.

"This could be really bad! Who cares how you look?" Lucy complains. "Guys..."

"Hey, droopy eyes, what the heck you are laughing about, huh?" Natsu asks, suddenly offended.

"Me? What are you laughing about, Shroom Head?" Gray echoes.

They begin to fight, and I just squat where I'm standing and lean against my knees, sighing louder than ever. "You can fight later!" Lucy shouts. "WORRY ABOUT THE MUSHROOMS FIRST!"

"Aria! Lookie, I found a big one!" Happy shouts all of a sudden, appearing in my vision with a large mushroom.

"I didn't even know fungus could get that big." I comment as I stand up. "What would you even do with it?"

"Oh, man. Wow! It's huge!" Natsu cheers.

"Yeah, it's so big, we could eat off it for days!" Gray agrees.

"How about we don't eat mushrooms." I say plainly.

Happy doesn't even listen, he's already taking a huge bite out of it. Lucy starts shaking him. "After all this, you still shove one of those things in your mouth like it's no big deal!? Spit it out right now!"

"But it's yummy!" Happy complains.

He swallows, chokes, then a large mushroom pops out from his head. "Well, I guess that happens to everyone who eats these things." Natsu hummed.

"I wonder if the villagers knew some way around this problem." Gray says.

"Who knows? Maybe they'll like the way it looks." Natsu shrugs.

"Yeah, maybe we'll be in style when we get back to town." Gray chuckles.

Happy just stares up at his mushroom while Gray and Natsu laugh before he bolts. "It's not as funny this time!"

I glance up and flinch away from Natsu. "Not to alarm you, but that thing is getting bigger."

He prods at it for a moment before grimacing. There's a loud growling noise coming from the canyon, causing us all to glance around warily. "What is that," Lucy says.

I feel something drop on my shoulder and glance up again. The mushrooms fell from Natsu and Gray's head. "Yay! The Mushrooms are gone!" Happy cheered.

"Not quite." Lucy hums. "Looks like yours is still going strong."

"Erza! Gramps!" Natsu shouts as we run back toward the village.

~*****~

There's an ominous red glow coming from the ground when we get to the square. "Erza!" Natsu calls as we spot them. "Be careful, Happy," He says to his little friend.

"Aye..." Happy says shakily.

The buildings begin glowing and wobbling slightly. "Whoa-- what's with this place?" Natsu asks, backing into me.

"Everything is moving--" I add as I grasp onto his arm. I glance down at my hand for a moment before snatching it away.

"It looks like the houses are having a dance party, huh?!" Happy cheers.

"You're missing the point!" I hiss.

"It can't be..." Makarov trails off.

"It's time to rumble, Gramps," Gray says.

"No, wait!" Makarov stops him.

Gray's magic stops immediately. "What? Why?"

"We need to get to higher ground!" Makarov orders. "There's something I have to check!"

"All right guys, let's go!" Erza orders. "Try to stay close!"

As soon as we get to higher grounds, the city transforms. "Aw, man! Looks like we got out just in time!" Natsu says.

"Now I see. It was a magic circle." Erza hums.

"That's right," Makarov nods. "Those lines we saw in the village were carved into the ground to form a massive magic circle-- A circle used for a type of magic that was banned many years ago. A form of sealing magic that is known as Alive."

"What does it do?" Lucy asks.

"Makes scary monsters," I hum. "It turned an entire city into a giant pit of monsters. Looks like the villagers cast the forbidden spell and got eaten by the monsters in return."

"But why would they use magic that's been banned?" Lucy asks.

"This village was home to a dark guild," Erza comments. "While investigating, I came across a collection of magic tools tucked away in a shed. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were tools used to practice black magic."

"Knowing how reckless dark guild can be, they probably thought up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process." Makarov adds. "But! There's one thing we should be grateful for!"

"And... that is?" I trail off.

"The dark guild's mischief brought these creatures to life. And most living creatures can be turned into... FOOD!" Makarov beamed.

"All that meat--" I stammer as I stand up quickly.

"I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T HUNGRY!" Lucy shouts at me.

"I got dibs!" Erza snaps at me before flying down the side of the cliff.

"NO WAY!" I shout after her and leap in myself.

~*****~

Unfortunately, it all tasted awful. I kneel against the ground, pushing the dirt around with my finger. "What are we gonna do now? I'd rather starve than eat more of that stuff." Erza sighs.

"Guess that's what we get for trying to cook up a bunch of monsters." Gray sighs.

"Man, this sucks. All that barbequing made me even hungrier than before!" Natsu sighs.

My head snaps up as the ground begins to rumble again. "Look out!" Natsu shouts and destroys a monster that had popped up behind Happy.

"Man these things are nasty." Gray complained.

"In more ways than one." I groan.

"I'm gonna blow you to pieces!" Natsu growls, his fists slamming together.

"Might as well keep crushing them." I hum as I cup my hands around my mouth.

We all continue to fight against them-- even Lucy, who summoned Taurus to help out.

"They just keep coming--" Natsu stammers.

There's a loud rumbling noise below us. "Great, what's happening now?" Lucy complains.

The area is flooded with light. "The magic circle!" Gray shouts.

"Are you kidding me?!" Natsu snaps.

"Oh, wow! So pretty!" Happy shouts.

"You're missing the point again!" I shout at him. "What the hell is going on in that little head of yours?!"

"This is bad..." Erza trails off.

The monsters continue to thrash and thrive before the boulder below us shatters, sucking us inwards.

~*****~

"I'm starving..." Natsu whines. "Like for real..."

"I can't walk another step," Happy complains as he plops onto my head.

"Good thing someone's carrying you, ya jerk." I grumble irritably. I rub at my head. "God, I am so tired. Thankfully all those people were released from their stupid mishaps. I guess it's all worth it."

"Yeah, feels good, doesn't it?" Natsu grins.

I sigh and stretch my arms behind my head. "That doesn't change the fact that I'm starving."

"Thought you weren't hungry, Aria," Gray teases.

"I JUST DON'T LIKE FISH OR MUSHROOMS, YA STRIPPER!" I shout at him.