AN: And here's a new fic! Two stories posted in one day! Hurray! Be sure to leave a comment and tell me what you think ;)
EDIT: Rating changed to M for violence! Just to be safe!
Incandescent
Chapter One
The air smells of musk and sweat and beneath that something sharper—something metallic that rests heavy in the room, coating her tongue and leaving a bitter taste in its wake. Lucy grimaces as the smell hits her, nearly recoiling at how pungent it is. She catches herself quickly, steeling her features and continuing into the crowded room, unimpressed with the flickering lights and water-stained ceiling of the abandoned warehouse. She steps in a puddle of what she hopes is water, eyeing the liquid with distaste before shaking off her boot.
She glances towards the group crowding the middle of the room, forming a large ring around a pair of fighters in the center, cheering and screaming as the men beat each other. According to the large screen overhead, one is called Bora of Prominence, and Lucy recognizes the tattoo above his eye from the flier she was given previously this week. The other fighter is simply called Jackal, and Lucy doesn't think she'll ever be able to forget the smile on his face as he draws blood.
Jackal lands a heavy blow across Bora's face, sending the man crashing to the floor. The crowd swallows him from sight and Jackal throws his head back and laughs, the sound drowned by the heavy beat of music flooding through the overhead speakers. There's something in Jackal's eyes that she doesn't like, amusement or maybe mirth, some twisted joy at seeing some bleed and hearing bones break.
Sneering, Lucy turns away, instead heading for the staircase off to the right, leading up the balcony overlooking the fights on three sides of the room, the front wall left bare. The music will be louder, she thinks, enough to give her a headache for days, but the view will be better. She's in no mood to fight through a screaming crowd just to watch a couple of men fight like dogs. If she wanted to watch people kill each other, she would have gone with Laxus to speak with Hades. No matter. Lucy didn't come here to listen to the fighters and the crowds scream. She came to recruit.
There have been whispers lately, rumors, and she intends to find out just how true they are.
Her foot touches down on iron, and the entire set of stairs quivers violently, trembling beneath her slight weight. She scoffs, glancing down at the rust beneath her dark boots and wondering if a fall from the top would kill her or merely leave her broken. Perhaps, a bit of both. Shaking the thought away, Lucy takes another step, one hand on the railing beside her. The metal is cool against her fingers, left uncovered by her ratty gloves stretched over her palms.
It's not the building she needs to watch out for at this point, it's the people—the monsters. A tall man built like a wall passes by her, heading for the ground floor, and Lucy thinks he might be one of the night's fighters, a man named Ezel that she saw briefly on the roster. His gaze rests heavy on her form, as she walks by, and Lucy clenches her jaw until she feels his eyes leave her frame. Her gun weighs heavy against her hip, a constant reminder of what lurks in the shadows, watching—hunting. Men. Animals. Monsters.
With her luck, all three.
Halfway up the stairs, Lucy freezes, her steps faltering as her grip tightens on the railing, her knuckles turning a stark white as her muscles tense. Pausing, Lucy breathes in heavily through her nose, searching for the phantom scent that seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came. She finds it again a moment later, the smell suffocating her, slithering down her throat and curling through her lungs, thick and dark and bitter. Sulfur floods her senses, choking her and resting thick on her tongue.
Lucy's lips pull back over her teeth and she snarls, casting a quick glance around the room for anything suspicious. Nothing. Her fingers itch to grab her gun, but the smell is faint, days old, so she forces herself to relax, knowing better than to work herself up over nothing. Besides, it's not a demon she's looking for.
It's a Dragon.
The Dragon. There have been rumors circulating, little whispers talking about the best fighter in the area—a man who can breathe fire. There's only two types of creatures able to do that, at least of those recorded in the old texts: draconian beasts and very brave, very stupid humans. She would bet good money on this instance being the latter. Most lizard men don't hunt this far North. Even if they did, she doubts she would find them skittering around an abandoned warehouse being used as a drug den and an underground fight ring.
Regardless of what it is, Lucy knows that there's something here worth finding.
Shaking her head, Lucy grits her teeth and continues towards the top. The steps rattle beneath her, but hold steady as she reaches the balcony. Lucy glances down at the fight below, just in time to watch Jackal drive a vicious kick into Bora's throat. The man drops to his knees, hands coming up to clasp his neck as he doubles over, vomit dripping from his chin.
The crowd cheers for Jackal, starting up a chant that Lucy can't quite make out from her position up above, the music too loud for her to hear much beside a steady beat and the ringing in her ears. No, she can't hear what they're saying, but she has a front row seat to watch the violence.
Again, Jackal attacks, this time with his fists. Blood sprays from Bora's mouth, dripping down his front and staining the concrete floor a dark color. Jackal laughs and throws another punch.
When Bora goes down, he doesn't get back up.
Lucy looks on in silence as the broken man is dragged from the ring, blood smearing across the floor as he's carelessly taken away. The heavy music quiets suddenly, just enough so that Lucy can hear the screaming from the crowd below and the low howl coming from Jackal. Her skin pricks at the sound, but she knows there's nothing to worry about.
He's not one of the others, and even if he was, it's a new moon and she's still the one packing heat. Lucy pulls her jacket tighter around herself, leaning forward against the iron bars on the railing, peering down at the ring just in time to see an announcer enter the circle. He raises one of Jackal's fists with one hand, signaling him as the winner. He starts talking, but Lucy is less than interested in anything he has to say.
She tunes out the crowd, pulling out her phone to check the time. A disappointed sound tears from her throat when she's sees it's only twelve, the night still young and alive. She could be here all night if the Dragon doesn't show soon, and she really doesn't have the patience to sit around that long without attracting trouble or getting in a fight herself. It was a mistake for Makarov to send her here, but she doubts he had many options to choose from. Between her and Laxus, it must have been a coin toss.
The phone slips back into her pocket, the little star keychain catching on her glove for only a moment, just long enough for the little charm to snap off entirely when she pulls back, sending it clattering to the ground. Lucy curses, twisting around to catch the little thing, only to be surprised when she finds someone already there.
She takes a step away her back pressing tight to the iron railing as she sees a man stoop down and grab the charm. Dark, green eyes lock with hers as he stands, shifting his weight from one side to the other as he stares back at her. He lifts a hand, running his fingers through damp strands of the most peculiar colored hair she's ever seen, brushing them away from his eyes as he looks down at her, the charm still clasped between his fingers. He straightens suddenly, and Lucy realizes that he's tall, roughly six feet, maybe a bit less, and broad in the shoulders, though not overwhelmingly so.
A fighter, if she had to guess. Lucy's lips press into a thin line, waiting for him to make the first move. She thinks she could take him, if only long enough to get away. Makarov won't be happy about it, but Lucy thinks he'll just have to deal with it.
The fighter reaches out suddenly, holding out the little star for her to take with a small smile. It's stupid really, how readily she takes it from him, but he only sends her a crooked grin that pulls at the ring in his lip and drops the charm into her open palm. Lucy catches the letters E.N.D. scrawled across his knuckles in thick ink, but his hand is gone a moment later, dropped back to his side. He gives her a nod, messy hair falling back into his eyes before he turns away, disappearing down the stairs without a word.
Lucy watches him until he's swallowed by the crowd, heading straight for the center ring and Jackal, his gait steady and his head high.
Lucy twists back around, turning back to the fights just as the overhead screen changes, revealing a new match. Jackal's name stays in place, the score beneath his name changing from fifteen-six to sixteen-six, another win added to his score. Bora's picture is replaced by that of the man she just met briefly, green eyes and rosy hair fill the space, but Lucy is drawn to his lips, stretched into that same crooked grin. The word "Salamander" flashes beneath the picture, and below that the numbers ten-zero.
Salamander enters the circle, and Lucy watches as his fingers slip beneath his shirt and pulls the fabric over his head slowly, making a show out of it. The crowd roars at the action and Salamander grins, tossing the shirt somewhere into the crowd where it's immediately swallowed up. She can't help but peruse the newly bared skin, gaze trailing over the bronze skin of his back and trailing over his shoulders as he rolls them. There's a tattoo resting between his shoulder blades, but she can't quite tell what it is.
He turns around suddenly, his back to Jackal as his gaze sweeps across the room, snapping to the balcony a moment later. He catches her gaze and his smile grows, his back straightening as he sees her watching him. Lucy quirks a brow, gaze slipping from his eyes down to his chest and then even lower before snapping back up. His lips twitch and he sends her a wink before spinning back around.
Lucy freezes as she finally realizes what the ink on his back is supposed to be. A dragon, black and coiled along his spine, wings high and brushing along the back of his neck. It's pretty, more delicate than ferocious, but that's not what catches her attention. No, the tattoo wouldn't be worth remembering if she'd never seen it before. But she has, seen it before. Once, in the profile of one of Makarov's former students. Same location, same design.
And she never has believed in coincidences.
Seems like she's found herself a dragon.
Letting out a breathless little laugh, Lucy settles against the railing, her curiosity piqued by the stranger down in the ring. The announcer says something else, arm moving in a sweeping gesture towards Salamander, an introduction of sorts. Jackal sneers at the attention being given to the newcomer, but his cockiness doesn't deflate.
She glances back at their stats, curious. Jackal is the more experienced of the two, and judging by the cheering he's also the crowd favorite. However, Salamander has the better record. No losses compared to Jackal's six.
This should certainly be interesting.
There's a shrill blow from a whistle, the announcer leaping out of the way as the crowd screams and cheers, names being called and bets being placed. Lucy never has been one for placing bets, but if she war, she knows exactly who she would place money on.
The two men collide in the center, diving straight into the fight rather than dancing around each other. Lucy can't decide if it's a brave move or an incredibly stupid one, she knows little of fights like this. Fighting has always been Laxus' forte, not hers.
Salamander gives the first blow, a fist cracking across Jackal's jaw with so much force that Lucy can hear the blow from all the way up on the balcony. Jackal snarls back, spitting out blood before lashing out with a foot, his leg catching Salamander across the chest and forcing him backwards. He catches Jackal's foot in one hand and jerks him forward, sending the other man stumbling before knocking him clean across the jaw before releasing him.
The victory is short lived and Jackal comes back with a vengeance, catching Salamander twice across the jaw before landing a blow just above his eye, hitting him hard enough to split the skin and draw a line of blood down the side of Salamander's temple. Lucy watches as Salamander takes a heavy blow to the face, one that sends his head snapping to the side, blood dripping from a split on his lip.
It's over before it really starts, in her opinion.
One moment, Salamander is rocking on his feet and wiping the blood from his chin, Jackal gloating from across the ring. He says something Lucy can't hear, his head thrown back in a laugh. The crowd roars at Jackal's taunts, but his opponent doesn't react, eyen as the crowd sneers and the timer, set for four minutes, continues to count down, over three minutes left.
In the next second, Salamander has lunged forward, his right fist striking Jackal across the jaw, the other colliding with his cheek, snapping his head around to one side. He doesn't stop there. His right arm swings back around and he drives a fist into Jackal's gut. The man doubles over, blood on his lips, and Salamander swing up with his knee, cracking Jackal across the nose. There's a gush of blood, and Lucy knows it's broken.
Jackal stumbles back, blood coating his lips and dripping down his chin. He snarls then, and his teeth are stained a violent red. He lunges, but Salamander is faster. He skirts around Jackal, an arm wrapping around his throat as he forces the other man to his knees with a well placed kick. Jackal goes down, fingers clawing wildly at the arm wrapped around his neck, nails drawing blood as he struggles. Jackal thrashes against Salamander, but can't dislodge him.
Lucy watches in utter fascination as Jackal's face turns a bright shade of red, his oxygen cut off. The man gasps, wheezing, and his clawing becomes desperate, his eyes wide and terrified as he finds himself unable to breathe.
For a moment, she thinks that's it, Salamander has won. He's going to choke Jackal until he blacks out. She's wrong, however, in an instant, Salamander releases the gasping man, releasing Jackal and letting the other man suck in a greedy breath from where he's collapsed on his knees.
She quirks a brow, knowing the rules state that the fight continues until one opponent can't continue, unconscious or otherwise. She isn't left waiting for long. Salamander circles Jackal, who attempts to struggle back to his feet, an angry bruise blooming against his throat. Blood drips from Jackal's broken nose, staining the floor beneath him.
Salamander steps in front of jackal, murmuring something that's swallowed by the music and crowd. Jackal's eyes go wide for only a moment, his lips moving rapidly, and then Salamander swings around on one leg, striking Jackal across the face with the other and watching him drop backwards, his head hitting the concrete floor with a crack.
The crowd crescendos, beginning a chant of Salamander's name. Jackal doesn't get up, doesn't move, and for the briefest moment she wonders if he's dead. The announcer steps into the ring, ducking down to Jackal's side before signaling a pair of men forward.
They drag him away just as they did Bora.
She casts a fleeting look Salamander's way, finding his eyes already locked onto her. Her charm burns against her palm as she stares back, watching as he wipes the blood from his chin, smearing it across his tattooed knuckles.
His eyes burn into hers, but Lucy tears her gaze away, making her way down the iron steps. She can feel his gaze on her back, but he doesn't follow, and when the crowd swallows Lucy she disappears, heading straight for the door.
The dragon tattoo flashes to the front of her mind, and Lucy has her phone out before the warehouse doors are slamming shut behind her, the dial tone already ringing as she leans back against the steel siding.
He answers, but doesn't speak, waiting for her. "Dedushka," she greets quietly, casting a quick glance around her. While she doubts that anyone would understand her if they were listening in, she's not willing to take that risk. Lucy brushes her jacket aside, fingering the gun at her hip as she wets her lips.
"Zvyozdochka," he responds in kind, accent thick and low. He says nothing else, and Lucy sighs, sucking on her teeth in annoyance. She never has liked phone calls, least of all with those who don't make good conversation.
She lets several seconds tick by before responding. "Ya nashel chto-to interesnoye." Her fingers drum against her side, painted nails digging into her skin as she rolls the star charm between her fingers, thinking back to the Salamander.
There's a crackling from the other line, a heavy breath as the man mulls over the words. There are plenty of things that might interest him, though not many that she would risk a phone call for. He knows this. "Chto eto?" he asks, deep timber echoing through the speaker.
Lucy grins, drawing out the silence a little longer. She glances down at the charm in her hand, then shoves it deep into her coat pocket, her grin widening, if only a little. "I found Igneel's kid."
AN: All right! Here's the start of a new adventure! This will be a blend of dark action and humor, so don't think this fic is going to be 100% serious! Be sure to leave a comment and tell me what you think :) Also, chapters are likely to get longer from here o out, but I'm trying to stick to continuous scenes and not skip around and time jump so much!
PS: Sorry if the Russian isn't completely accurate, I did the best I could!
All those who review (not through guest) will receive a short preview of the next chapter! If this can get more than twenty, I'll probably scream lol