The Fox Hole

Chapter 55: Redheaded Tails – The Hangover 

– Erza –

Erza walked through the bustling streets of Magnolia, feeling both exhausted and on edge. She had barely slept the night before, still reeling from the conversation she had—no, the conversation she endured—with her mother. The fact that she even had a mother was still a concept she struggled to wrap her head around. A mother who had abandoned her. A mother she absolutely did not forgive.

But… maybe she'd think about it. Someday.

She had left the rest of her friends back at the guild, needing time alone to sort through the tangled mess in her head. It was almost noon, and the streets had grown more crowded. She had to be careful not to barrel through people with how distracted she was.

"Something on your mind, child?" a voice rumbled from her right, low and familiar.

She jumped slightly, turning to see Master Makarov walking beside her.

"Master Makarov!? What are you doing here?"

The old man chuckled. "It's my job to make sure all my guild members are okay. I wanted to check on you after your mother made her… dramatic entrance at the guild."

He gave a visible shudder, shaking his head. "She certainly felt as powerful as a dragon… I don't know if Fairy Tail would survive a fight with her."

Erza snorted. "At least half the guild wouldn't. Bunch of cowards."

Makarov frowned at her. "That's no way to speak about your family, Erza."

She rolled her eyes "I've been thinking…" she admitted, glancing at Makarov. "The others have too, surprisingly. We've started noticing that a lot of our guild members don't really feel like they belong. They joined for money, for fame, for the prestige of being a Fairy Tail mage. They're not like Lucy, who fit in immediately and became friends with everyone." She collected herself before continuing. "Haru came to the guild. He made an offer. We took a vote, and it didn't pass. But ten years ago? Fairy Tail would've jumped at the chance to save lives. We've changed… and not for the better."

Makarov let out a heavy sigh. He didn't say he disagreed. That alone told her enough.

They finally stopped in front of The Fox Hole. Erza turned to him, arching an eyebrow. "Why are you following me again?"

Makarov grinned. "I wanted to speak with Haru. Or his mother, if possible. Actually, I'd prefer to speak with her." Then, to her horror, the old man's grin turned sly. He let out a few lewd giggles. "That woman's thighs… her perfect breasts—"

"Whack!"

"Owie!" Makarov yelped, rubbing the back of his head where Erza had just smacked him.

"Keep those pervy thoughts to yourself, old man," she muttered, stepping through the door of the restaurant.

He only chuckled, following her inside.

Erza stepped into the restaurant, immediately noting how much more crowded it was compared to her last visit. Back then, it had been empty. Now, it was lively, and filled with conversations and laughter. She supposed that made sense—this place was popular… with people from other worlds.

She was still trying to wrap her head around that concept.

As she scanned the room, she spotted two familiar faces in a nearby booth—Harry and Hermione, the young wizards who had spent a few days with Fairy Tail. They were good kids. She gave them a small nod as she made her way to the counter.

Behind it stood Haru, wiping a glass with a rag while chatting with two strikingly beautiful women, both of whom also had red hair. Erza suddenly felt oddly self-conscious, though she quickly shook off the thought.

"Hoho!" Makarov suddenly leapt onto the bar beside her, grinning widely. "Hello again, young Haru."

While Makarov engaged Haru in conversation, Erza took a seat at the booth next to the two red-haired women. The moment they noticed her hair, both let out a sigh.

Erza blinked. "What was that reaction?"

"It's because you're a beautiful redhead," the woman in green armor with face paint said. "Sorry, we just know Haru has a tendency to attract women like us."

She lifted a thick mug of mead before continuing. "I'm Aela, by the way."

"And I'm Sansa," the slender girl in a regal dress added.

Erza nodded at them both. "I'm Erza."

Aela smirked. "Oh? Are you that crazy dragon Irene's daughter?"

Erza sighed. "Please don't call me that."

"I sense there's a story there," Aela said with interest. "If you've got stress or troubles, this is the perfect place to unload." She slid her mug toward Erza invitingly.

Sansa rolled her eyes. "I don't know how you can drink so heavily in the middle of the day."

Aela scoffed. "A Nord warrior can drink whenever she pleases."

Then, without hesitation, she turned and called out, "Hey, lover! We need more mugs over here!"

"L–Lover!?" Erza sputtered, nearly choking when Haru chuckled and began pouring more mead.

Sansa blushed, while Aela smirked proudly. "That's right! I was Haru's first!"

Erza coughed on the small sip she had taken, while Aela laughed and patted her on the back.

"You look stressed out, Erza," Aela noted. "Almost as much as Sansa here, who's worried about declaring herself queen of her people or whatever."

"Queen?" Erza asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sansa sighed. "It's… a whole thing." She took a hesitant sip of her own mug before gagging. "That's awful!"

Aela chuckled. "That just means it's strong! Drink some more, it'll make you feel better!"

…

Erza groaned as she slowly regained consciousness, the crisp morning air chilling her skin. Something rough and lumpy pressed into her back. She cracked one eye open and found herself staring at an orange mass.

Pumpkins.

She sat up abruptly, regretting it immediately as her head throbbed with a vengeance. A groan to her left made her glance over, finding Aela sprawled out, her armor scuffed and dusted with bits of pumpkin vine. On her other side, Sansa was curled up in a rather ungraceful heap, her dress was rumpled… no, wait! That was Erza's dress!

Erza blinked. "Why are you wearing my dress?" It was one of the spare outfits she kept in her requip space.

Sansa blearily lifted her head, her expression blank. Then, as if realizing what Erza had just said, she looked down at herself, eyes going wide. "What happened to my dress?!"

"Maybe you tore it or something," Aela muttered, rubbing her temples before sitting up. She took a long, slow glance around the pumpkin patch, then sighed. "Yep. We're in Skyrim."

Erza stiffened. "Wait, what? How did we end up in another world?"

Before anyone could answer, a loud, angry voice interrupted them. "Oi! You lot! Where's my goat?!"

A scruffy-looking Nord stormed out of a nearby farmhouse, pointing an accusatory finger at them. "I wake up this morning, and Nessy's gone! You three stole her!"

The three women exchanged confused glances before Erza crossed her arms. "We don't know anything about a goat."

"Oh, you don't know?" The man scoffed. "I saw you lot stumbling around my farm last night, drunk as all Oblivion! If you don't bring Nessy back, I'm reporting you to the guards!"

Aela groaned, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Gods, I hate waking up like this."

"This has happened before?" Erza asked in disbelief.

"Unfortunately..."

"I knew I shouldn't have had that second mug," Sansa muttered, flushing. "Haru's going to think I'm some sort of drunken trollop."

"Relax, its not that bad..." Aela waved her off.

"Lets all just focus so we can go home..." Erza said.

"So we have to find a goat?" Sansa asked, looking between them, bewildered. "Why would we even want a goat?"

"A better question is where we took it," Erza sighed. "Fine. Let's track it down and get out of here."

Thankfully, Aela's tracking skills proved invaluable, and after a few minutes of inspecting the dirt and scattered footprints, she motioned for them to follow her. "The trail leads into the woods."

As they walked, the brisk air helped clear some of the fog in Erza's mind, but she still had no memory of what had happened after they started drinking at The Fox Hole. She shook her head before looking over at Sansa, a thought occurring to her.

"By the way," Erza ventured, suddenly noticing something weird. "Why did you wake up in my spare dress, Sansa, while I woke up in my armor?"

Sansa threw up her hands. "I don't even remember changing! I distinctly recall wearing my own gown, then—"

Aela leaned in and sniffed Sansa.

"Hey!" Sansa jerked back, mortified. "What are you doing!?"

Aela's eyes widened. "I smell werewolf. Like, you are definitely a werewolf now."

Sansa froze. "I am? I k-know we talked about it a while back, but I didn't think I was going to go through with it so soon!"

Erza was confused. "A werewolf?"

Aela turned to her but before she could answer, the forest thinned, and they stepped into a clearing. The sight that greeted them made all three of them pause.

Giants. A lot of giants. Towering figures wielding massive clubs loomed over a herd of enormous mammoths.

And in the middle of them…

"Of course," Aela muttered. "The goat's right in the middle of the giants."

Erza exhaled, trying to suppress the groan building in her throat. "Why do I feel like this is going to be really annoying?" This is why she tended not to drink either. She just preferred drowning herself in cake instead.

Aela rolled her shoulders. "Let me handle this. I've dealt with giants before. Just stay behind me and do not say anything."

The three of them slowly stepped into the clearing, careful not to make any sudden movements. One of the giants turned, its massive frame casting a long shadow over them as it stomped forward. The ground shook beneath its weight.

Erza swallowed hard. She could fight them if she had to, but she really, really didn't want to kill a bunch of giants over a stupid goat.

Aela began speaking, gesturing toward the goat. The giant responded in deep grunts and slow, deliberate speech. She nodded along, occasionally sighing in exasperation before finally turning back to them.

"So, apparently, the three of us challenged the giants to a drinking contest last night," she said dryly. "And we wagered the goat."

Sansa paled. "And we lost, didn't we?"

Aela nodded. "Yep."

Erza closed her eyes and counted to three. "So how do we get the goat back?"

Aela sighed. "The giant says we can have it back… but only if we help them with a problem first."

"What kind of problem?" Sansa asked warily.

"Apparently, a vampire living in a nearby cave kidnapped a baby mammoth."

There was a long silence before Erza finally spoke. "Why do I feel like this is about to get even more complicated?"

The three women followed the giant's directions, trekking through the dense forest until they arrived at the mouth of a dark, gaping cave. The air was damp and carried the unmistakable scent of decay, which did nothing to ease Erza's growing irritation.

"I just want to get this over with," she muttered, placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Yeah, yeah, let's grab the baby mammoth and go," Aela said, rolling her shoulders. "The last thing I want is to spend the day dealing with more nonsense."

Just as they stepped inside, chittering noises echoed from the depths. Erza barely had time to react before massive spiders skittered down from the ceiling, fangs dripping with venom.

"Oh gods—kill them!" Sansa shrieked, backing up toward the entrance.

Erza and Aela wasted no time, steel flashing as they cut through the monstrosities. Aela's axe split through one's abdomen, sending greenish ichor splattering against the cave walls. Erza slashed clean through another's legs, watching as it flailed before she drove her blade into its skull.

Sansa, meanwhile, stayed as far away as possible, pressing herself against the rock wall with wide, horrified eyes. "I hate Skyrim!"

"Don't worry, it'll grow on you someday, Princess," Aela teased, flicking spider blood off her weapon.

"I don't want it to grow on me!"

Erza shook her head, stepping over twitching spider corpses. "Let's keep moving. The sooner we find this vampire, the sooner we can leave."

The cave stretched deeper than expected, twisting through rocky corridors until they finally entered a large cavern. At its center stood a man—pale-skinned, sunken-eyed, and grinning far too pleasantly for someone lurking in a monster-infested cave.

Next to him, the baby mammoth stood tethered to a rock, appearing surprisingly calm despite its predicament.

Erza exhaled in relief. "Finally. We kill him, take the mammoth, return it to the giants, get the goat, and go home."

"Oh, good! You're all here!" The vampire clasped his hands together as if greeting old friends.

Aela's grip on her sword tightened. "He's way too friendly for someone about to die."

"I was hoping you three hadn't forgotten our deal!" the vampire continued. "You were all rather intoxicated last night when you promised to help me save those sick children."

Aela paused, her sword halfway unsheathed. "Sick children?" she repeated, blinking.

Erza and Sansa exchanged glances.

"Ah, I see your memories are a bit foggy!" The vampire nodded sagely. "No problem. Allow me to refresh them."

He began explaining how they had met the previous night. Apparently, he had been out in the forest searching for medicinal herbs when the three of them had stumbled across him in their drunken stupor. They had struck up a conversation, during which he had told them about an outbreak plaguing a small village nearby—one that affected children worst of all. As it turned out, he wasn't just a vampire but also an alchemist and doctor and apparently a really nice guy in general... Because of course he was!!!

Erza wanted to cry...

He had been working tirelessly on a cure, but the final ingredients needed were mammoth blood and something called ice wraith teeth.

Erza had no idea what an ice wraith was, but judging by Aela's groan, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Ice wraiths live in the coldest, most miserable fucking places in all of Skyrim," Aela grumbled, rubbing her temples.

The vampire's hopeful expression faltered. "So… you're not going to help anymore? I'd go myself, but I'm not much of a fighter despite my unfortunate undead nature."

The three women stood in silence before collectively sighing.

"Yes, we'll help…" Erza muttered, already regretting it.

…

The three women trudged down the snow-covered mountain. Despite the freezing cold, they had succeeded.

Aela held up the small satchel filled with ice wraith teeth. "Okay… we're almost done with all of this," she muttered, shaking off the snow from her armor. "Just need to get this back to the vampire, save some sick kids, get the mammoth, then get our goat, and finally go home."

"Fwip!"

Erza's instincts flared. Without hesitation, she drew her sword in one swift motion, slicing an incoming arrow out of the air. The steel clanged against her blade before clattering onto the snow.

"Look out!" she barked, shifting into a defensive stance.

From behind a cluster of rocks, a group of ragged-looking men and women emerged. They looked like bandits—except something about them was odd. They were carrying expensive looking silver weapons for some reason.

"The Silver Hand," Aela snarled, her hand flying to the hilt of her weapon.

Erza had no idea what that meant, but Aela's reaction told her enough.

The apparent leader of the group, a burly man covered in scars, sneered at them. "You think you can just attack one of our bases and get away with it? We tracked you bitches halfway across Skyrim, and now it's time for payback!"

"We did that too last night!?" Erza groaned.

"Huh... Not the first time I've attacked these guys when I was drunk either..." Aela admitted.

Sansa, who had been shivering moments ago, suddenly stomped her foot in the snow. She looked very done with all this. "NO!" she shouted. "I am cold, I am tired, and I just want to go the fuck home!"

Aela blinked in surprise, then snorted. "Never heard the princess swear before."

Before anyone could react further, Erza's eyes widened as Sansa suddenly let out a strangled gasp. A deep, guttural growl tore from her throat, and a second later, her entire body burst out of her dress. Her skin rippled and stretched, muscles expanding, bones shifting, fur sprouting in an instant.

One moment, she was a noblewoman. The next, she was a towering, snarling beast.

A massive werewolf stood where Sansa had been, her golden eyes glowing with a feral hunger. And then, without hesitation, she launched herself at the Silver Hand.

The lead bandit barely had time to react before she tackled him to the ground, her claws raking across his chest in a brutal slash. His scream was cut short as she bit down, tearing through flesh with horrifying ease.

The other bandits hesitated for a fraction of a second. That was all it took for their doom to be sealed.

Aela grinned, leaning casually on her weapon. "Wow, you go, girl! Bite his head off!"

Erza, on the other hand, felt her grip tighten on her sword. Fairy Tail mages didn't kill, even against the worst enemies. But… this wasn't her world.

"Don't feel too bad about these assholes, they hunt down werewolf children and skin them for sport." Aela patted Erza gently.

Erza let out a sigh and decided not to step in after hearing that. Part of her could also admit she did not want to have to take even more time to tie up all these bandits and then escort them to the nearest guard station either...

...

The three women stumbled back into The Fox Hole, soaked from melted snow, speckled in suspicious stains, and thoroughly battered.

Haru looked up from behind the counter, his ears twitched as his eyes widened in shock. "Wow. Rough night? What happened…? You three all ran out of here yesterday and no one saw any of you after that…"

"It was a whole thing…" Erza muttered, and the other two women nodded in exhausted agreement.

Haru offered a kind smile. "Can I get you anything to drink while you tell me all about it?"

All three redheads answered in unison—loud, unyielding, and with a haunted look in their eyes:

"NO!"

XXX

Thanks for reading!!!

I have a patreo n. My subs can read advanced updates of my stories ahead of standard release and even check out pics for some of the more naughty chapters. 

Link:

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Here is the list of Current Advanced Chapters:

The Fallen Gamer ch 319-323

The Fox Hole 60

Thunder and Black Wings 11

The Blood Queen 36

The Fox Hole 59

The Titan 27

The Fox Hole 58

The Blood Queen 35

The Fox Hole 57

Thunder and Black Wings 10

The Fox Hole 56

The Blood Queen 34