Mountain Climbing and Fey Dealings

"We have to climb that?" Arlo groaned as he motioned to the monumental mountain that stood before them. Vinea gave a light nod just before he launched a vine onto a ledge and pulled himself up. "It's not that hard." He called down, though Arlo begged to differ.

"You know what? You guys go meet your friend. I ain't doing all that." He began to walk away, though quickly pulled back by Min. "Don't worry, my ever dear brother. When it comes to taking the easy way, I know exactly what to do." He said with a cheeky grin as the sound of a horse running could be heard running towards them. 

A large black stallion with decayed flesh appeared charging out of thin air, an otherworldly aura surrounding it while Min and Arlo got on it. "Why do you have a horse? Oh yeah. Forgot." Lucy sighed, watching while her two underlings began quickly ascending the mountain rather quickly on the dreaded horse.

Lucy let out a sigh when she watched Nvr use Grey as a grappling hook, following after Vinea with matching speed. The former demon groaned, wishing she could still fly but had to instead treck up the mountain with her own two feet, not having the bodily strength to grapple herself up with chains.

While she began climbing up the mountain, she tried to think up a somewhat creative way to speed up her climb. Yet at her current level and ability skillset, it would only be more of a hindrance to try. So she chose to ever so slowly walk up, watching as everyone else had already made significant progress.

"Stupid... Why can't I have what what they have? Mother, how I... Envy them!" Lucy let out a devilish laugh before stomping her foot... Only for nothing to happen. "Come on... Break open!" She stomped her foot down again and again, trying to crack open the earth to enter her leviathan form.

After a good seven minutes of trying, she told herself it was quote: "A waste of energy for the esteemed L##i### V#i####." She began climbing once more, though having lost sight of the others. 

Lucy eventually reached a roadblock in her path, an patch of overgrown plants. The former demon began getting more and more frustrated at the mountain for the tedium it was bringing her. "First thing I do when I get my heart back, break every mountain, cliff or even rock I see..." She grumbled before slowly walking through the plants, only to trip and begin tumbling down the mountain, yelling every curse she could. 

She had been climbing for a good four hours at this point, but had lost all her progress in less then a minute of painful falling. "What I wouldn't give for this torment to end!" She screamed, kicking a rock away in her frustration. 

She suddenly heard a playful giggle behind her, turning to see a fairy, no bigger then a house cat, floating upside down in front of her face. "If I could have a moment of your time, Miss, I could help." He said with a playful smile.

"No. Don't try the oldest trick in the Fey book." She grumbled, turning around to try and climb again. The fairy gave a long, bored sigh. "You're no fun. Won't you give me your attention?" 

"Try and steal from me again and I'll flay you." 

"Fair enough." He shrugged, flying over her head to watch as she struggled again and again to climb, only to fall back down. "How about if you give me your name, I help you out?" He smiled devilishly. Lucy thought about it for a second before smirking. "Okay. ####### #######, Pleasure."

The fey looked annoyed, realising Lucy didn't even have an actual name. "Stop screwing with me. That's my job. Geez, that old hag is gonna kill me..." He sighed, staring up at the mountain. "I gave you my name. You've gotta help me now." She smirked.

"No you didn't!" He growled, getting in close to her face, only to back off when she tried to bite him. "I did, though. It's not my fault you can't claim what doesn't exist." She laughed, crossing her arms as she stared the fairy down.

"Not how that works." He growled before coming up with an offer, floating around her playfully. "Since you seem so smart, how about we make a deal? You give me a random day of your life, my choosing of course."

"No. You will just take the day I was born. I saw a movie about something similar." She laughed mockingly, upsetting the fairy more. "Then what about this, you give me the memory of your first pet?"

"Finish the sentence."

"Fine. Give me the memory of your first pet and I will take you where you want to be right now."

"Try again."

The fairy let out a frustrated groan, realising this woman knew her wordplay. "Screw it, give me the name of a random word and I will take you to the top of the mountain."

"Snollygoster."

"That's not a real word." He groaned, though Lucy couldn't help but laugh. "I know it is. You can have it. I only used it once." The fairy quickly summoned a dictionary, skimming through it before letting out a surprised noise. "So it is... Fine, I can't take much more of you, so screw it."

With a snap of his fingers, Lucy lost access to the bizarre (Yet surprisingly real) word before instantly being teleported to the top of the mountain. She let out a triumphant cheer, though nearly falling off, quickly realising she had been sent to the very top, a very thin surface that gave her a view of the entire fey realm in its majesty.

In any other situation, she would have found it to be rather pleasant, yet right now, she was trying to think of a way down while keeping her balance. Before she could even react though, the fairy from before appeared and shoved her ever so lightly, knocking her off balance. "Sorry, the wind is awfully strong up here." He giggled. 

"FUUUUUU-" Lucy screamed as she began to plummet towards the jagged rocky terrain below. In a moment of quick thinking, she summoned a jade chain with a clawed edge, digging it into the side of the mountain, slowing her fall enough that she hit the floor with a light thud.

"Oh, hey Lucy." Min said with a wave as Lucy slowly got off the ground. "We all thought you died." Min laughed, helping her up. The others had only just arrived, a bit confused as to how Lucy had made it ahead of them so quickly. While Min desummoned his horse, he questioned Lucy on how she made it ahead. In a flat tone, she said: 

"I gave a word to a fairy and he shoved me off the top of the mountain."

"Average day here, really." Vinea said with a light chuckle as he stretched, despite having no real need to with his vines. "Come on, Avis's place is just up ahead. Oh and... Let me do the talking. She's... Doesn't see visitors." 

With another ten minutes of walking together, they reached a rather shabby looking wooden cabin over looking a gorgeous view that the Fey Palace could be seen from. Nvr and Grey both seemed somewhat excited, since they hadn't seen Avis, to them, they hadn't seen her in four years.

Though Lucy didn't expect too warm of a welcome, considering she ripped off the harpy's arm awhile ago. But they had somewhat moved past that whole incident. 

As they got closer to the cabin, the sounds of an electronic guitar could loudly be heard playing. Vinea took a few deep breaths and knocked on the door. The music quickly stopped as a loud crash was heard. "Shop ain't open, bub! Come back tomorrow." A young feminine voice called out in a rude tone. Nvr and Grey were both trying to hold their professional moods, but wanted to break down the door when they heard what sounded like Avis's voice. 

"It's me." Vinea yelled as the door creaked open to see a yellow beak poke through. ""Me" could mean anyone." They said before leaning their head out the door with a smirk. It was Avis, looking the exact same as before she left. 

Vinea rolled his eyes, seemingly trying to say something, Nvr busted through the door excitedly, hugging the Harpy in a tight grip, scaring her. "Me and Grey have missed you..." She said in what was a meant to be sweet tone, but came of as more creepy as they tackled the young woman to the ground. "Vinea, who t-the hell is this woman?"

Nvr looked baffled, sniffing "Avis" carefully before quickly shifting gear. She pulled Grey off and the mimic shifted into a sword, though it looked more like a dagger in Nvr's hands as she held it to the harpy's neck. "You are a fool wearing the skin of my friend... Where is the real Avis?"

Vinea let out a sigh, pulling Nvr off with his vines, surprisingly strong enough to do so. The Doppelganger quickly pointed to a counter, where a jar sat. Grey quickly shifted into his Fox form, looking inside the jar to see nothing but ashes. "Don't tell me she's..." He couldn't even finish the words, let out a sad whine.

Lucy sighed, realising that Avis was dead. "Well, I guess she finally kicked the bucket... And not by my hands. Shocking." 

The doppelganger seemed confused, face palming slightly. "I was pointing at the door behind the counter... Geez Vinea, are master's friends really this stupid?" They complained before hearing a loud guitar rift in the other room. "I was trying to say that, but they all jumped to conclusions." He sighed before the music slowly got louder and louder. 

The doppel-Avis gave a sigh, knowing what comes next. As the music began to swell up and reach its peak, they repeated the same introductory phrase they had to for the last 5 years since working for her:

"One day she feels like selling useless crap, the next she feels like playing for an audience, but she's always felt like..."