Chapter 30
Festival of Surprises

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, and my Ideas

.:+:.

"Welcome everyone! Welcome to the Miss Fairy Tail Contest!"

Max called the announcement out over the speaker system within the Guild, the Sand-Mage standing atop the stage, looking just as excited as the huge crowd of onlookers, both Members of the Guild, and people from the town.

Magnolia was in full celebration mode, today being the Harvest Festival. Everyone were already enjoying themselves, whether it was walking around the stands in town, eating, everyone was doing something, and everyone was excited for the Fantasia Parade that would be going on later this evening.

Fairy Tail was no exception to the celebrations, naturally. They were even more into it, due to the annual Miss Fairy Tail Contest held here in the Guild.

Alumina glanced past the curtain toward the crowd of cheering people, mostly men she noted, standing just before the stage as Max continued to talk. She gripped the curtain nervously, and bead of sweat falling down her face, as she was suddenly hit with an insane amount of nervousness.

Why did she agree to do this anyway? Who was it that talked her into it?

She sighed, that's right, all the girls in the Guild.

Them, and Master.

Her eye twitched slightly at the thought, she had become aware the Old Man had a bit of a pervy side to him, and she couldn't say she was all that pleased with it.

She sighed, to be honest, her mind wasn't on the pervy antics of the men, or the contest. Even the Festival had lost its shine, all because of what she had decided to do last night.

It had been starting to bother her for awhile now, that note Lucy had left along with all the Keys. She had been aware that there was some sort of Memory attached to it, and while she had been hesitant at first, she couldn't keep herself away from it any longer.

She narrowed her eyes at the floor, another bead of sweat dripping down her face, stomach clenching...

.:+:.

It was in the clearing of a forest that Alumina now stood, her attention immediately landing on the blonde with the brown eyes who had just stumbled from the trees.

It was Lucy, she didn't even need to think about it.

Lucy looked rather frightened, her arms and legs scratched from the course bushes she had been pushing through, Alumina blinked, seeing no sign of anyone with Lucy.

"Oohhhh... Damn it, I lost them..." Lucy mumbled, letting out a great sigh, eyes going downcast. "Why am I always the one that gets lost?"

Alumina blinked, not quite sure what this had to do with...

Suddenly a branch snapped from the opposite side of the clearing, catching both girl's attention, as their head snapped around to see who, or what was there. Alumina reached down for her keys, momentarily forgetting she was inside a memory, only to find that they were not there.

She sighed, right... Memory...

Lucy had done the same thing, as her hand now rest atop the collections of shimmering keys reflecting the light of the dying sun over the forest.

"Whose there?" Lucy called, eyes narrowed and tense.

Alumina's eyes narrowed, the figure of a tall man stepping from the trees, footfalls heavy with the boots he was wearing, a tattered cloak over his shoulders to hide his body, face lined heavily.

Alumina blinked, while Lucy faltered slightly, eyes widening and hand falling away from her keys.

"Oh, its you..." Lucy murmured, relaxing as she sighed. "What the heck are you doing here? I thought you were in some remote corner of the country?"

However, the man didn't reply. He simply gazed at her with a cold, dead stare. Lucy shivered slightly at the look, not sure why he would be giving it to her.

It was without warning, without pretense, a horrifying, bloody, cruel attack had begun on Lucy. The man rushed forward, his form seeming to take on an air of darkness that had not been there before.

He swept his arms out one way, a slash appeared across Lucy, and she yelled in pain.

In the next second, her Keys had been thrown away to the side, out of her reach before she had a chance to do anything.

Blood... Screams... Slashing... Intent to kill... Blood... The sound of flesh tearing... The sickening scrape of Magic against bone...

Trees were even cut apart by the man's Magic, a sickly green and black ooze. The ground was beginning to be torn up, and stained crimson.

Alumina backed away from the scene, hands coming up to cover her mouth as she stared, shaking in absolute terror.

This was... This was too much... There was so much blood... Lucy... She was screaming so loud...

"HELP ME!" Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs, willing her team to hear her. Birds sprung into flight at the noise, the sun continually becoming redder as it set.

There was no end to it, the man didn't stop, he just kept going... He kept...

Lucy slammed back onto the ground, already hardly recognizable with all the wounds. "Why are you doing this?" She coughed out, looking to the man in confusion.

No answer, just more murder.

"NATSU!" Lucy screamed, her throat held in the grasp on the man. Alumina stared, Lucy was calling for the one person she knew would hear her, no matter how far he was...

The man cut straight through Lucy's stomach, a small river of blood pouring down onto the ground, it was at this, the ones let out an earsplitting scream.

But she was cut off, her voice dying away as she choked on her one blood, the Man's magic slicing her throat open.

It was that moment, a small explosion of flashing golden and sickly green-black light erupted in the clearing. A resounding boom echoed, a boom Alumina knew only she could hear.

Everything went black.

She stood in the nothingness, tears streaming from her eyes, too shocked to move. No, she was petrified... Even the Train Crash couldn't amount to that... that carnage. How could Lucy have... who would have...?

Alumina's blood ran even colder, eyes going wider once one thought occurred to her.

Lucy... Had known her murderer...?!

.:+:.

Even now that scene scared the living shit out of her, it had taken hours to actually calm down enough to even think straight. She would never watch that again, and she regretted seeing the memory in the first place...

"Don't look so nervous Alumina!" Her attention was caught by Levy's voice as the Script-Mage appeared beside her. "This'll be synch for you, everybody likes you already!" Levy leaned in a little closer, a sly smirk playing at her lips, "And that outfit will definitely help!"

Alumina blushed slightly at the words, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, the memory fading as her mind came back to the present situation. A change she gladly accepted, slightly thankful for Levy for having given her a distraction.

She pulled at her skirt in embarrassment, maybe she should have chosen to wear something else...

For the contest she had put on a white miniskirt with a white shirt with a low circular neck, and sleeves that reached halfway down her arm, with the shoulders sliced open in a v shape.

To go with it, she had also out on white stalking's that reached halfway up her thigh and white boots that reached to her knee. She had tied her hair back in its regular two low pony tail style, but had also tried a frilly white ribbon around her head, and neck.

"Was it too much?" Alumina asked quietly, glancing to Levy slowly.

"Oh, no no no, Alumina you look great! I was only teasing!" Levy giggled at the blonde's embarrassment.

Alumina smiled back slightly, still a little flustered. "Thanks..."

"Now hopefully nothing unexpected happens this year." Levy smiled, "Considering what happened last year, a nice predictable festival would be great."

"What happened last year?" Alumina asked.

Levy paused, smiling sheepishly. "Well... It really wasn't last year, more like 7-8 years ago now. It just feels like such a short time, having been stuck in time for so long."

Alumina nodded slightly, already having heard of how most of Fairy Tail's members had been trapped in time for seven years before coming back.

"Then... What happened?" She pressed, still curious to hear of what Levy was speaking about. In all the explaining Master had given her about the Harvest Festival, it would seem he had conveniently skipped over the special 'unexpected event' that Levy seemed to be remembering.

Levy smiled nervously, "Well you see... Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe sort of... Tried to take over the Guild by force... And turned all of the girls, including me into stone... Before making everyone else fight.." Levy chuckled nervously. "And then he sort of tried to destroy the entire town with a huge amount of lightning."

Alumina's jaw dropped, eyes growing wide.

"That was until Natsu and Gajeel stopped him." Levy finished, still smiling nervously, and for good reason.

"Seriously?!" Alumina gasped, the explanation shocking the life out of her. Levy nodded, not at all surprised by the blonde's reaction. "What?! Wait, why?! What happened after that?!"

"I'm still not entirely sure why he did it myself, all I can say is he was a different person back then." Levy murmured. "As for what happened, Master had no choice but to expel him from the Guild."

Alumina blinked, Laxus getting expelled didn't surprise her, not after what he must have done, but... Seriously? Who the hell would do such a thing?

She hadn't spoken to Laxus much, but even so she didn't get a bad feeling from him.

Levy clapped her hands together in front of her, "As I said, he's a different person now, he wouldn't ever do something like that again."

"... Who let him back in the Guild?" Alumina asked, she had a hard time believing Master Makarov would have let him come back so easily...

"Well, Master was going to retire, and pass the Guild on to Gildarts." Levy explained. "Gildarts used his power as Master to let Laxus back in the Guild, before returning it to Master Makarov." Levy smiled.

"Whose Gildarts?" Alumina asked, slightly puzzled. "I've never met him, have I?"

"Ah, no. You haven't met him yet, Gildarts is an S-Class Mage here in the Guild, but he tends to travel a lot, and isn't around much." Levy explained. "He's a really nice guy, a little absent-minded at times, but altogether a good person." Levy paused, "Oh, and he's also Cana's father." She added in as an after-thought.

"Now! Our first contestant, the lovely, the stunning, the magnificent!" Max's voice cut into the conversation, "Miss Titania Erza!"

Now Alumina and Levy turned their attentions to the stage, where Erza had just sprung onto it in a dazzling golden light-show as she requiped into an armor of red and silver, the crowds going wild as dozens of swords circled before her in the air, the red-head smirking in confidence.

"Wow...." Alumina murmured, smiling, "They love her!"

"That's Erza for ya!" Levy smiled, giggling. Alumina smiled in return,

"Titania!"

Alumina stiffened, the voice ringing in her ears. She knew that voice!

All eyes snapped to the top floor of the Guild Hall, where the figure of a woman with long ginger hair, wearing a long coat, black pants, and a pale red shirt stood atop the railing of the second floor, her orange eyes sweeping over the attending people in the hall.

Erza's eyes narrowed, her swords stopped spinning immediately and all stopped to point in the woman's direction, looking furious. Alumina's hand fell to land on her Keys, her own eyes narrowing as she glared up at the woman.

"Tch... her.." She growled under her breath,

"You know her..?" Levy murmured.

"It's you, what is it you want?" Erza called up in a calm voice, but not without the venom creeping into her voice. To the red-head, the memory of this very same woman was not fond, and neither was Alumina's nor Happy's memory of her.

A woman who had trapped them in a game that could have very well killed them.

By now everyone else were wary of the sudden appearance, everyone climbing to their feet and looking toward her, fists clenched and tense. Master Makarov stood up atop a table in the center of the crowd, face calm.

"I wish to play another Game." The woman replied coolly, "The blondie cheated in the last one, this time I intend to make you play fair."

"I did not cheat!" Alumina grumbled hotly, fists clenching at her sides.

"This is no time for your childish games." Erza replied,

"You have no authority here, I suggest you leave now." Master spoke up, looking to the woman with a stern glare, one she didn't even blink at.

"This game is for all of you." She said with a slight smile, "Have fun."

Suddenly the Guild Hall vanished as dark green light flashed all around with hints of gold as well, and Alumina found herself standing among a glade of grass with a few rocks spread about here and there, and a pool of still water set in the center with sparse trees circling around in a circle. She moved toward the edge of the grass and trees, all she could see beyond the green of where she was... was pale blue sky..?

She blinked once, she was alone, and everything around her stretched out as pale blue and the fluffy white clouds arranged in intricate designs, curves, turns and paths beneath the floating patch of land she was on.

Floating land?! She sweatdropped at the thought, eyes narrowing.

There were spaces between the arrangements of clouds below in which she could see empty air fall away, Magnolia sat beneath everything.

"Another maze?" She murmured, frowning. "In the sky?!" That was.... Crazy!

She backed away from the edge, her vision swimming suddenly at a bout of light-headedness brought on by being at such a height. She backed all the way up until she was directly at the edge of the water, sweatdropping. This was a new set of crazy, she would give that woman that much...

"Fairy Tailer's, can you hear me?"

Alumina spun around at the sudden voice, and blinked a few times. A screen composed of Magic appeared just over the pool of water, where the image of the woman came into view, looking at her with calm orange eyes. Alumina grew angry at once, fists clenching at her sides as she looked directly at the screen.

"Stop this at once! What the hell are you trying to accomplish?!" She yelled furiously, of course she didn't expect the woman could hear her, it was only a screen projection after-

"Oh calm down Blondie." The woman sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. "You have the easiest part of this game, now just sit down and relax." The woman said with a rather unamused tone.

Alumina had to take a minute to recompose herself, she honestly hadn't expected the woman to answer her, and she was a little put off by it.

The woman blinked once, and several other screens appeared, all hovering over the pool of water. She blinked, the screens were split into quadrants where she could see everyone sanding in some part of the maze of other...

"What part of the game do I have..?" Alumina asked lowly, eyes narrowing.

"You're the prize." The woman smirked slightly, "Only they don't know that." Alumina stiffened. "I figured since you're the one who cheated last time, this is the best place for you, where you can sit still and wait." The screen in which the woman was in, disappeared before she could say anything. Alumina was left to look over the other screens that had been left behind, counting every member as she spotted them.

"Now Fairy Tail." The woman's voice echoed around her from some unknown source, "The goal of the game is to get through the Maze to the center. There you will find your prize and the game will end."

"What the hell are you tryin' to prove!?" Several members shouted, though they were ignored.

"That is enough!" Her attention snapped to Master Makarov suddenly. "You have messed with the wrong Guild, and now you'll have me to answer to!" Master's voice grew deeper and he looked angrier until a shadow began to consume him.

"I don't intend for the game to end so quickly, Makarov." The voice of the woman spoke up and in a flash of light, the shadow surrounding Master disappeared as a orange mark appeared on his hand, it looked like an unknown sort of animal. "Your Magic Power is formidable, as to be expected of a Wizard Saint. So, as a rule, you are not allowed to use your Magic."

Master Makarov stared down at the mark, eyes wide and sweatdropping. "A Magic Limiter...?" He muttered, before turning a very annoyed look to the sky, shaking his fists at the air, "A MAGIC LIMITER?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Alumina let out a low sigh. She had been hoping Master may stop this early on, but now that didn't seem very likely.

"What's at the center?" Natsu called, he didn't look quite as angry or annoyed as Alumina may have thought he would be. In fact, he looked rather excited for the challenge.

"Ah, Salamander." The woman said with an airy tone of amusement. "As I expected, you actually want to play the game, don't you?"

Natsu smirked, and Alumina sighed. "Hell yeah! This looks pretty cool, I'm expecting the prize to be super awesome!" He pointed a finger right at the place where Alumina was assuming he was seeing a screen with the woman in it, although she was not. "You wouldn't have gone through this much trouble if you weren't planning something big! I'm all fired up!"

Oh Natsu, why does everything have to seem like a harmless game to you? Didn't you hear how she tried to kill Happy and I last time we met her?!

From the expressions she saw on the screens from everyone else, they also found Natsu's willingness to play a little annoying and stupid. Many of them were shaking their heads, others were calling him an idiot where Natsu himself couldn't hear them.

She could hear the woman chuckle all around her, "Well then, alright! Unfortunately I can't tell you what the prize is, it's supposed to be a surprise. You'll just have to get to the center first to find out." The woman told Natsu who only looked even more excited.

"Alright! I'll be the first one to the center then!" The pinkette smirked, slamming a fist into his palm in anticipation.

"Well then, I leave you all to it." The woman said. "Oh, and one more thing," the woman spoke again after a pause once many members including Natsu had started to run off already. "There are a few traps, I wouldn't want to make it too easy, now would I?" It was almost as soon as she said it, Natsu had almost fallen through the cloud that made up the maze when it gave way under his feet. Alumina tensed as he teetered toward the edge, before blowing out a puff of fire to push himself backward before he could fall into the clear sky toward the ground.

Alumina let out a sigh of relief, glad he hadn't gone over the edge. She could only imagine what traps were in store for the members of the Guild, considering she had already had experience with all sorts of kinds when she, Erza and Happy had come across the woman the first time around.

"Be careful you guys." She murmured under her breath to the screens,

.:+:.

This was awfully nerve-racking, she would admit to that. To have to sit by and watch every Member in Fairy Tail carefully (or at least somewhat carefully) make their way through the maze that had been set for them, it was undeniably the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She hated sitting by and doing nothing, she wanted to do something, and most of all, she wanted to find that woman and take her down herself!

She was fed up with her attitude and actions at this point were truly making her angry,

Alumina climbed to her feet with an aggravated huff, wiping the dust from her clothes angrily. Two hours had passed, and for a good portion of it she had spent circling her little floating island prison, looking and hoping she may find a way off of it without falling to her death. She had considered jumping down into the maze below, but that was fairly far down, and even if it looked to be made of clouds and may be soft, she may end up actually falling through the maze.

And then she would probably die.

Either way, there was no way off of the floating piece of land and it only aggravated her more.

Though, she faintly wondered.... If she couldn't get off the land, how in the hell were any of the Fairy Tail Wizards supposed to get up here? Was there some special way from down in the maze..? Or what?

"Why does everything have to be so damn complicated with her?" Alumina growled, fists clenching. "This is ridiculous! What the hell is the point of this anyway?"

From watching the screens, she knew that flying would do them no good. Happy, Carla and Lily had all been hit with that Magic that prevented them from flying too high in the beginning, the same Magic that had hit Happy in the first maze.

"Lumie, what the hell is going on?"

"What's the problem? Why are you-"

Two different lights shimmered before her suddenly, one golden and the other gray. Alumina blinked a few times, both Ursa and Loke appeared before her on their own powers, Ursa was looking at her curiously while Loke was looking at the scene before him with wide eyes, having cut his own questions off.

"Ursa! Loke!" She exclaimed in surprise. "That woman who uses GameMaker Magic has taken the Guild hostage, everyone is trying to-" she tried to explain everything as fast as she could,

"Tsk, tsk... That's not allowed I'm afraid." The woman's voice rose up around them, and suddenly her Magic spiraled around both Loke and Ursa. They disappeared from sight before they had time to react, and Alumina stared at the place they had been with wide eyes. "Must you always break the rules?" The woman sighed.

"You didn't say it was a rule!" Alumina snapped back, "You didn't tell me any rules for that matter!"

"I thought it was self-explanatory." The woman replied evenly.

"Where did you send them?" Alumina demanded.

"To the Maze." The answer came without pause. "I'm sure they'll have plenty of fun." Alumina faltered a moment, while she didn't have to worry about Ursa and Loke dying... She was still worried they would get hurt.

She growled, "This is madness!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, fists clenching. "What is it you're trying to prove?! What the hell is your motive?!" She asked, "Why do you insist on making everything so damn DIFFICULT?!"

Her Magic Power began to rise up around her out of anger, and while it didn't take on the form of any type of Magic in particular, it only remained golden in color and flickered over the grass, around her body and making her hair swirl wildly in the wind that rose up along with her Magic.

"Calm down." The woman said lowly, no hint of anger of irritation this time. In fact, she sounded exasperated, and Alumina blinked, her Magic fading in the quake of her sudden confusion. "You'll find out what I'm planning soon enough, just sit still." With that, even though Alumina couldn't see the woman, she knew that she had left.

The Celestial Mage let out a huff of aggravation, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at nothing in particular. This... All of this! It didn't make any sense!

"... You shouldn't get so angry." The voice snapped her from her thoughts and she glanced around quickly to try and see where it was coming from. She turned and immediately jumped backward, her arm reaching into her Magic Storage to pull her staff from it.

That Chimera from last time sat on the grass before her, Moldy if she remembered correctly. He was the size as when he had left, a baby elephant. He simply sat there, eyes fixed on her movements with an eyebrow quirked.

She held her staff out toward him in a defensive gesture, warning him to stay back. Moldy blinked, and sighed.

"Mistress doesn't want you to use Magic." He reminded gently, his ears flicking in the direction of her staff.

Her staff disappeared in a glow of green, and Alumina let her hand fall to her side.

"Why not just use a Magic Limiter on me then?" She growled lowly, very unhappy. She took a few steps away from Moldy, not willing to let her guard down, all though the Chimera didn't seem to want to attack her. He hadn't made any move to do so, and she wasn't getting a hostile feeling from him.

Moldy blinked, "Mistress doesn't want to concentrate on Limiting your Power along with Makarov's all at the same time." He replied honestly, Alumina narrowed her eyes at it.

"Why are you here?" She muttered a little suspiciously.

"You're up here all alone." Moldy murmured. "I thought maybe you would want some company." He finished the words with a toothy smile... That was almost cute, if she hadn't been in such a bad mood.

"Company?" She muttered. "I want this to stop! I don't care if I'm alone or not!" She snapped.

Moldy flinched and backed up, head lowering and ears flattening against his head. He gave her a hurt expression, and she faltered, suddenly feeling a little bad.

He wasn't trying to hurt her, and he was trying to be halfway decent...

"Sorry.." Alumina murmured, letting her anger simmer away. "I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just frustrated... And worried."

Moldy straightened up slowly, "You shouldn't be worried." He murmured.

"How can I not? Who knows what kind of traps the guys in the Guild will run into? I don't want anyone getting hurt." She replied, glancing away and toward the screens.

"Hmm?" Moldy murmured, she glanced his way to see him walking toward her, head tilted and eyes wide. He past her and she slowly followed him over. The chimera stopped just before the screens, eyes grazing over each one, before he smiled and let out a low, throaty chuckle that almost sounded like a purr.

"You haven't noticed?" He asked, looking to Alumina with shinning eyes. She blinked, eyes narrowed.

"What?"

Moldy smiled, sitting down and tilting his head toward the screens, smiling widely. "None of your Guild Mates are actually getting hurt." He answered happily, "The traps are designed to slow, not harm."

Alumina stiffened at the words, eyes growing wide. She slowly looked from Moldy to stare at the screens. That couldn't be true could it...? Why wouldn't the traps he meant to hurt everyone...? That's what a trap was, wasn't it?

But now that she thought on it... While she had observed everyone in the Maze, she like admit every trap they had run into her been weak and rather... Non-dangerous.

"B... But..." She stammered, Moldy blinked once. Alumina's eyes shifted to the ground, completely confused. "That... No... So... Why?" Her thoughts tried and failed to click together, she looked back to the Chimera before her.

That just didn't make any sense, and why the hell hadn't she noticed such a thing before Moody pointed it out?!

"Mistress is having you play a Game." Moldy replied, upon noticing the flat look Alumina have him he elaborated. "A real Game, you know, the fun ones." He said with a toothy grin.

"I don't think anyone is having any fun." She mumbled. "But really, why is she doing this? It doesn't make any sense..." She paused. "... And what is her real name anyway?" Suddenly realizing that she hadn't actually learned the name of the woman yet.

Moldy sat down in front of her, "Mistress wasn't always doing bad things." He murmured. "Mistress used to be a very good person, she still is, she just started running with the wrong people." He flicked his ears in Alumina's direction, "After fighting with... Titania," he shuddered a little, "And meeting you, she changed for the better." He smiled. "Mistress isn't very good with showing her emotions, this is her way of saying sorry."

"Sorry?" Alumina blinked. "She's doing the same thing she did last time." She muttered.

"Yes, but Mistress had a special prize in store." He replied.

"I thought I was the prize?" Alumina asked,

"Half of it." Half..?

"What's the other half..?" Alumina asked slowly, eyes narrowed. Moldy grinned,

"It's a surprise."

.:+:.

"Wha... What the hell happened..?" Loke mumbled, glancing sideways slowly with a quirked eyebrow, from where he was laying on the floor, there was something on top of him but he ignored it.

One moment they were with Alumina and now... They were surrounded by clouds...?

"I think we're in the Maze..." Ursa's voice reached his ears. He blinked, before turning red and realizing just what was on top of him.

He looked forward to see Ursa's bo... Face! His fellow Spirit had fallen on top of him in the midsts of being transported. She wasn't looking at him, instead she was glancing around, eyes narrowed.

Loke closed his eyes, "R-right..." He stammered. "... Could you... Get off me now...?" He asked in a low whisper.

"Hmm?" Ursa glanced toward him, only to see his eyes were closed. She blinked, noticing the blush, but none-the-less did as he asked. "Sorry about that." She murmured, holding a hand out for him.

Loke looked up at her, and slowly took her hand so she could help him to his feet. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "It's fine..."

"You think going back to the Spirit World and passing through our gates again will do anything?" Ursa asked, completely ignoring his flustered actions.

"... No." Loke murmured. "I think we'll just get sent away again..."

"Then we'll have to get through this the old fashioned way." Ursa murmured. She lift her face to the sky, they couldn't see the floating piece of land Alumina was on just here, but she wasn't trying to spot it.

Ursa's nose twitched a little, much like the Dragon Slayers, she had heightened senses, one of which being her sense of smell.

She flicked her head to the left, "Lumie's scent is stronger over that way." Loke nodded to her a little, motioning for her to lead the way. Ursa began walking, arms hooked behind her back and ears perked for anything.

Loke rubbed the back of his neck some more, eyeing Ursa carefully, not really sure if he should say anything, or just let them fall into silence...

He didn't know why, things had gotten better between Ursa and himself since Alumina had helped to clear things up... It was really only recently that he felt tense and awkward around her... But why though? It had been tense between Ursa and himself when they had been fighting, but this wasn't the same thing... He couldn't remember feeling this way about anyone other than... Alumina...

He blushed at the thought, oh there was no way was there...?!

Shaking his head he pushed the thought to the back of his head. Ignore it now, leave it alone...

Ursa POV

Ursa glanced backward at him for a moment, eyebrow quirked. That was... Not like him, to say the least. But she didn't feel like pressing the matter just now, so she left him alone. Her top priority was finding Alumina, not trying to figure out what Leo was thinking about.

Her eyes landed on a thin piece of wire stretching out across the ground, one she stepped over lightly without touching it. She turned her head to tell Leo to watch for it, only to see he had already snapped the wire.

Ursa came to a stop, mouth slightly open and sweatdropping. Leo came to a sudden stop, glancing down at the snapped wire with wide eyes, before looking up to her slowly.

"Sometimes Leo... You're so damn oblivious..." She sighed in slight exasperation, eyes closing and shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Her eyes opened at the noise, and she lay wide eyes on what had happened to Leo in the course of a few seconds.

She couldn't keep herself from bursting out laughing, tears began to fill her eyes and she leaned over, holding her stomach in pain.

"... Oh my stars... L-Leo... You look absolutely... Ridiculous...!" She choked out in between laughs, glancing up at him with one open eye, a toothy grin spread across her face.

Activating the Tripwire had caused several doses of pink fluff to shoot from the surrounding walls of clouds and plaster him, making him look like some sort of pink hedgehog.

Leo looked to himself with wide eyes, before giving her a half embarrassed half annoyed glare.

"Oh shut up." He muttered, before chuckling himself. "... What kind of a trap was that?" He asked.

"The fun kind?" Ursa suggested in between fits of laughing, she looked to him, her yellow eyes glittering with amusement. Leo smiled in return, shaking his head but laughing all the same.