This little piece is for NaLu angst week 2018, I'll post any/all fics I do this week on Tumblr (if they aren't too long), , and then on AO3 later on. So enjoy Day 1: Shadows
Lucy knew she shouldn't have walked home alone.
But she'd been exhausted and Natsu had been in the middle of an intense brawl with Gray that Lucy had no desire to get in the middle of.
The fatigue had messed with her mind enough that she had even forgotten about the warning's everyone had been telling her about. The warnings to not go anywhere alone at night.
Because he hid in the shadows.
Recently, a dark mage had been sensed lurking in Fiore. No one knew where he was or what he wanted, but mages had been told to be careful.
Apparently, he was powerful.
From what Lucy had gathered, the dark mage had powers similar to Rogue's. He was able to merge with the shadows, traveling around in them.
She had been warned not to be out at night alone.
And yet, here she was. Alone, surrounded by shadows cast by street lamps and moonlight.
She had originally just been nervous, worry tugging at her stomach, wind seemingly whispering soft warnings to turn back, but then she heard a noise.
She'd heard someone breathing.
Now, Lucy was scared.
She froze in the street, looking around for the noise.
Then she heard it again, someone breathing. Their breaths were slow, cautious almost. Lucy looked around slowly, trying to locate the sound.
Her eyes landed on an alleyway to her left.
An alleyway covered in shadows.
He was in there, she knew it. Lucy could sense a dark magic, seemingly pulling her towards the shadows, beckoning her to her doom. It almost seemed to be trying to rip her magic from her body.
Fear bloomed in her chest. This was unlike any other dark magic she had ever felt.
It reminded her of Zeref.
Lucy thought about where she was. She was about a ten minute walk away from Fairy Tail. If she ran, could she make it back in time? Would he catch her first?
She decided she didn't really have a choice.
Lucy turned around, and broke out into a sprint back to Fairy Tail.
"Loke!" She called, not having time to grab her key. Sure enough, the flirty spirit appeared beside her, a serious look in his eyes.
"Keep running, don't look back." Leo ordered. His hands shone with the golden light of regulus.
"Regulus Impact!" He yelled, launching his attack at something behind Lucy.
A shiver shot down Lucy spine, as the sounds of Loke's fight confirmed her fears.
The shadow mage was following her.
She forced herself to move even faster, to the point where her lungs burned. Finally, she turned a corner, and the guild was in sight.
"Natsu!" She screamed as loud as her strained lungs allowed. "Natsu help!"
Natsu's fist stopped just before it made contact with Gray's jaw. His head snapped to the doors of the guild.
Gajeel and Wendy had similar looks of worry and confusion on their face.
"What is it? Did you hear something?" Gray asked, his playful anger from before gone in flash.
"Lucy..." Natsu growled. Then he heard her scream again.
He threw himself off the ice mage and bolted for the front doors, the other two dragon slayers close behind.
He burst through the doors, his eyes landing on Lucy.
She was sprinting down the road, her eyes full of fear.
"Natsu!" She called.
"Lucy!" Natsu ran to her.
The blonde crashed into Natsu, frantically gasping for air. He quickly wrapped his arms around the trembling girl.
Lucy felt goosebumps rise on her arms, both from fear and the chill of the wind. The adrenaline faded and dizziness took its place. She would have collapsed had it not been for Natsu's arms holding her up.
"Luce, whats wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked quietly. He tried to push her away so he could check her over for injuries, but she clung tight to his shirt.
"What's up with bunny girl?" Gajeel asked, as he and Wendy approached.
"I don't know-"
"The light." Lucy said between gasps for air. "We have...to get... in the light."
Wendy's eyes went wide as she immediately realized what Lucy was talking about.
"The dark mage that hides in the shadows." Wendy gasped.
"Dark mage?" Gajeel asked.
"We need to get inside, now." Wendy said quickly. Turning and beginning to run back.
Natsu glanced down at Lucy again. His brows furrowed in concern.
"Did something attack ya Luce?" He asked worriedly.
"We have to get to the light!" She yelled, ignoring his question. She hit his chest, frustrated that no one was listening to her.
"Gajeel, Natsu, hurry!" Wendy cried.
"Go!" Lucy ordered. Her movements became frantic. She pushed herself out of Natsu's arms, trying to follow Wendy to safety. But a wave of nausea washed over her. Lucy tripped, Natsu quickly catching her.
"Okay, okay we hear ya Luce. We're going, take it easy." He shifted her so that he could pick her up in his arms. Natsu grew nervous when he realized Lucy's magic levels felt lower than normal. Had she been fighting something? Natsu tightened his grip on the blonde and began to jog back to the guild, Gajeel following close behind.
Lucy groaned as her head began to pound. Something was wrong, a short sprint and opening Loke's gate shouldn't have drained her this much.
Gray, Juvia, Erza and Levy appeared in the doorway of the guildhall, concern on their faces.
"What happened?" The ice mage asked as Natsu met up with them.
"Is Lucy hurt?" Erza asked with concern.
Wendy tugged on Erza's arm, trying to push past the group of people and get inside.
"We need to go inside, where there's light. I think Lucy was attacked by that dark mage we've been sensing."
"The one who uses shadows to fight with and hide in?" Levy asked.
Wendy nodded. "He's powerful, apparently, Lucy's lucky she wasn't hurt."
Natsu let out a quiet growl, he shouldn't have let her walk home alone.
Juvia moved closer to Gray, clutching his arm. "Juvia does not like this. She senses something dark in the air."
Gray put a hand on top of Juvia's. "Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Let's get inside, that mage can't attack us where there's light right?" Gajeel gave Levy a little push on the back, making sure she was in the light.
"I'll inform the Master of the Dark Mages appearance. Wendy, you take a look at Lucy, see if you can get her to talk about what happened."
Wendy nodded, but before she could do anything, Lucy gasped.
The blonde rolled out of Natsu grip, landing on her hands and knees on the floor.
"Lucy! What's wrong?" Natsu dropped to his knees next to her, placing a hand on her back.
"Loke's gate was forced closed." She whispered, face riddled with confusion and worry.
"Was he out fighting the dark mage?" Levy asked.
Lucy nodded, panic in her eyes. "He's coming."
Immediately, all the mages heard a crash, and felt the ground seemingly begin to shake underneath them.
Natsu quickly jumped to his feet, positioning himself in front of Lucy, and preparing for a fight.
"Natsu, you don't understand. He isn't like any other dark mage." Lucy grabbed
Natsu's hand from her spot on the ground, needing him to listen to her. "I felt it when I was fighting him, his shadows, they feel like they were made by Zeref himself."
"In case you've forgotten Luce," Natsu looked down on her with his usual cocky grin, "we beat Zeref."
"Natsu..."
"And we'll beat this guy too!"
As the dragon slayer said that, what looked like a wave of shadow came around the corner, making a beeline for Fairy Tail.
"Stand your ground!" Erza ordered. "We are in the light, he cannot hurt us!"
Sure enough, the wave sped up, and came to an abrupt stop when met with the light that spilled out of the doorway of the guild.
The shadows hissed, then began to shrink, slowly, until they took on a human form.
A man seemingly made of darkness stood in front of Fairy Tail, a twisted smile on his lips.
"Hello Fairies." He said in voice far too calm. "My name is Zenix, and I will start by saying i'm not here to hurt you. Simply hand over the Celestial Mage and I'll be on my way, there is no need for fighting."
Natsu roared. "As if we would just give her to you!"
"Well that's a shame, as I have no intent of leaving until I get what I want."
With that, Natsu launched himself at the man. He heard the familiar sounds of his partners fighting alongside him. Some aimed for the shadows at his feet, others attacked him directly.
"Why do you want Lucy?" Natsu growled at the man, while blocking his punches.
"Well its simple, really." Zenix explained. "Celestial magic is a light type, and light can eliminate shadows. However, it also creates them. Having the celestial mage around is rather inconvenient for me, unless I can be sure she's on my side. If I could have her at my side creating endless shadows for me, I'd be unstoppable!"
"Lucy would never fight to protect someone like you!" Natsu roared.
Zenix laughed, "I never said she would do it willingly."
Natsu's eyes widened as he realized what Zenix was implying.
"Oh Natsu Dragneel, didn't anyone ever teach you to not leave what you're trying to protect, unprotected?"
Natsu froze. Idiot! He'd left Lucy alone, forgetting her magic was drained and she couldn't fight. As if on cue, he heard her voice, a fearful whisper.
"Natsu?"
He ran back to Lucy, where she had risen to her feet in the doorway of the guildhall.
She was staring at her hands, horror in her eyes.
"Natsu, something's wrong." Lucy said, her voice trembling.
"Luce, what's-" Natsu choked as he saw her hands up close.
The veins in the palm of her hand had turned black, and it was spreading.
"What did you do?!" He roared up at Zenix, who merely laughed while successfully dodging the attacks of other guild mates.
"As I said, light magic can eradicate shadows, but it also creates them. Her celestial
magic makes it easy for her to be corrupted by my shadows. Of course there is the added bonus that I drained her magic with the shadows upon seeing her. So she is helpless to fight back."
Lucy yelped as she felt a tug on her hands. She stumbled forwards a few steps.
"Natsu! It's pulling me in! The shadows are trying to absorb me!"
Natsu frantically grabbed her hand, trying to pull her back into the light.
"Dammit Luce, why does your type of magic always gotta cause so many problems?" Natsu complained.
"Not the time for jokes, Natsu!" Lucy snapped back.
The black veins had spread up to her arms now, and she had one foot out of the light of the guild hall.
"Natsu...I'm scared." Lucy whispered.
Natsu felt his chest tighten, his protective instincts kicking in. He tightened his grip, trying his best to pull Lucy back into the light.
"I'll get you out of this Luce, I promise."
Lucy watched as the veins continued to spread up towards her chest. She whimpered as her other foot stepped outside, and the shadows began to swirl around her feet.
"Natsu, im sinking."
Natsu's eyes widened.
"Dammit, don't let go Lucy!"
Natsu tried to burn away the shadows at her feet, and it worked! But then they would return a second later.
Lucy felt the familiar feeling of guilt in her chest as she realized she was the useless one once again.
"Luce, this is not your fault." Natsu's voice was firm, he recognized that look in her eyes. She got it every time they were in a situation like this.
Lucy ignored the dragon slayer. Like quicksand, she had sunk into the shadows up to her knees, and she knew she needed a plan, fast.
Around her, all her friends were fighting. She watched Juvia push Gray out of the way of a blast of shadows, only to have Gray use his ice shield to protect them both.
Erza launched sword after sword at Zenix, but his shadows seemed to swallow them whole. Even with Wendy boosting her powers, Erza couldn't land a hit.
Gajeel and Levy found side by side, the blue haired girl writing more iron for Gajeel.
Then, Levy spelled out a simple word.
Light.
Lucy watched as a huge portion of the shadows hissed and recoiled at the word that shone bright in the air. But sure enough, once the word faded, they were back to attacking.
Lucy had sunken to her stomach now, but it didn't matter.
She had an idea.
"Natsu, I have an idea."
"Yeah? What is it?" He asked, never ceasing his attempts to pull and burn Lucy free from her shadow prison.
"Let me go."
Natsu's fire went out immediately. His eyes wide with shock.
"Are you kidding me? No way in hell!" He went back to the process of burning shadows and pulling Lucy.
"Natsu, this isn't going to work!" She yelled.
"Yes it is!" He snapped back.
"You have to let me go!" Lucy begged.
Natsu's gaze was serious.
"I can't." He whispered.
Lucy felt warmth in her chest at the sadness in his voice. She wondered if he knew how much she loved him.
The shadows were up to Lucy's chest now, and the black veins had completely
swallowed her arms.
She gently tugged on Natsu's arm. Getting him to kneel in front of her. Gently, she pressed her forehead to his.
"Natsu," She breathed, looking him in the eyes, "do you trust me?"
"Always."
"Let me go."
"But Lucy...I don't...I can't"
"Trust me Natsu, please."
Natsu's brows were furrowed, Lucy could see the conflict in his eyes.
Of course Natsu trusted Lucy, that didn't mean he wanted to throw her into the shadows like some sort of sacrifice. He took a deep breath, and told Lucy the truth.
"Lucy, I can't lose you."
Lucy brought a hand up to cup Natsu's cheek. She gave him a soft smile. The kind that never failed to twist his heart.
"You won't" Lucy whispered. Carefully, she leaned in, pressing a light kiss on his forehead. Biting back a giggle when she saw the bright blush on his face when she pulled away.
"I promise, I'm not going anywhere."
Natsu nodded, and let go of her hand.
Instantly, Lucy was swallowed by the shadows.
"Lucy!" Natsu called in a panic. Had he made the right choice? She had to be okay, otherwise, he would never forgive himself.
For Lucy, everything was black. She was surrounded by darkness, with no idea which way was up or down.
From every direction, she heard Zenix's evil voice.
"Well well, looks like the little dragon gave up. Or was it you that decided to give in, celestial princess?"
"Fairy Tail never gives up." Lucy yelled into the abyss. "And neither do I!"
She got herself into position, her hands spread wide, palms facing forward.
"You messed with the wrong guild, Zenix." Lucy smiled. "But most of all, you messed with the wrong celestial wizard."
"URANO METRIA!"
Lucy heard Zenix scream as light shot out from every piece of her skin. She felt the shadows wither away, hissing as she destroyed them from the inside out. Even she had to shut her eyes from the brightness of the blast. She scrunched her eyelids shut, and prayed that when she opened them again, all of this would be over.
From the outside, Natsu heard her scream the spell. He stepped back in shock as he watched huge beams of light shoot out from various pieces of the shadow.
The other mages promptly stopped their attacks as they realized Lucy had things under control. They joined Natsu in the doorway of the guild while they waited for the light to die down.
"That's one crazy girl you got yourself there, Salamander." Gajeel teased, patting Natsu on the shoulder.
"I know, she's amazing." Natsu said breathlessly, smiling from ear to ear.
Lucy had come so far. He was overwhelmed with pride.
After a minute, the light dwindled. He scanned the street for Lucy, seeing her curled up on the ground, her eyes squeezed shut.
Next to her, was an unconscious Zenix.
Erza was quick to deal with Zenix, binding him and dragging him into the guild.
Meanwhile, Natsu ran to Lucy, dropping down beside her to check for injuries.
"Lucy! Are you okay?"
"Did I do it?" She asked.
"Yes you weirdo, you did it." Natsu laughed.
Lucy let out a sigh of relief as she allowed herself to open her eyes. Smiling when she met Natsu's eyes.
Now truly drained of magic, Lucy was unable to move.
Carefully, Natsu pulled her head into his lap, brushing her hair out of her face.
"That was reckless of you." He scolded.
"You have no right to scold me for being reckless, Natsu Dragneel." Lucy shot back.
"Yeah, you got me there Luce." He sighed, leaning back on his hands. He continued to
stare at her, wondering how on earthland he had managed to meet someone as amazing as her.
"I told you you could trust me." Lucy said with a smug smile.
"And I told you I did." Natsu paused. "I always have, Lucy. I always will."
They sat there for a moment, in comfortable silence, before Natsu spoke up again.
"Just do me a favour, Luce?"
"Sure."
"Don't walk home alone at night again, okay?"
Lucy giggled. "Why? I thought you trusted me?" Lucy teased.
"I do." Natsu insisted. "But that doesn't mean I wanna leave you by yourself." He
paused again, as if deep in thought.
"You know what Luce, maybe it's best if you just agree to never leave my side." He said with a smirk.
Lucy couldn't help but smile back.
"There is nothing that would make me happier."