A/N: This work is a rewrite amd crossover of chapters 129 and 130 of the first Maximum Ride book with Fairy Tail characters in the places of the normal ones. Erza as Max, Natsu as Ari...so on. Maximum Ride and Fairy Tail belong to James Patterson and Hiro Mashima, respectively. I claim no ownership. If I did own it, this would be in print.

"This way!" Millianna urged, attempting to herd the mutants out of the lab. "Don't be afraid."

"I hear voices." Simon stated, cupping his hand around his mouth and whispering in my ear. "Be very afraid."

"Let's move it!" I ordered. My heart was pounding — what was I doing? Was I going to take care of all these kids? I could barely handle the ones I already had.

I would think about that another day.

"Millianna! Jellal! Shô!" I called. "Out, now!"

They zipped past me, encouraging the others, and then we dashed through the first door and across the deep carpeting to the second one. "Up the stairs!"

I didn't have Simon's heightened senses, but I felt that our little liberation party was about to be found our. Which would be bad — really bad.

Plan ahead, Erza. Think it out. Think on your feet.

Yes, Voice. Okay, we had the steps, followed up by the sewer — I practically shoved the others up the dark stairwell, one, two, three ... One of the mutant kids freaked out and curled up in the fetal position, whimpering. I snatched it in one arm and kept springing up the steps, two at a time. In my mind, a vivid map portrayed which way we had to go.

Ahead of me, Jellal pushed open the last door, the one that lead into the tunnel, and we all poured out after him, shifting from the cool, fresh air to hot, fetid dampness that caused me to wrinkle my nose.

"Where are we?" The bird girl asked, the one whom we'd released. She appeared to be about ten years old and was of the handful of mutants who looked capable of speech.

"Sewer system, under a big city." I said shortly. "On the road to freedom and sunlight."

"But not yet," Natsu snarled from behind me, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. "First we need to talk, Erza. You and I. For old time's sake."

I froze, and, out of the corner of my eye saw the bird girl's eyes widen in fear. Did she know Natsu? I passed the sobbing mutant kid in my arms to her, then spun around, my movements slow.

"Back again, are we? I snapped, and before he could respond. "What are you doing here? I though Dad was keeping you on a short leash."

His hands clenched and shifted into clawed fists.

I needed time, desperately. Behind my back, I made 'run' motions with one hand, communicating the silent need to get out of there, now. "So, what happened, Natsu?" I questioned, fixing his attention on me. "Who took care of you while Rob was with us?"

His eyes narrowed, and I watched with horrified amazement as his canine fangs elongated. "The cultists. Don't worry about it; I was in good hands. The best, in fact. Somebody was looking out for me."

My expression became a thoughtful one. "Natsu, did Rob grant them permission to Dragon-Slayerfy you or did someone just do it while he was absent?"

Natsu's scaled shoulders quivered with fury. "What do you care? The perfect one, the successful experiment. I'm nobody, remember? I'm the boy who was left behind."

Despite everything, putting aside the fact that I could have cheerfully kicked his teeth in for what he had done to Jellal, I did feel a stab of pity for Natsu. It was true — once we were out of the Tower of Heaven, I'd never given him another thought. I didn't stop to wonder about why Rob had left him or what had happened to him.

"Someone did horrible things to you because Rob wasn't around to defend you," I whispered.

"Shut up." Natsu growled. "You don't know anything! Nothing at all! You're dumb as a brick!"

"Maybe not. Someone wanted to see if Dragon-Slayers would last longer if they didn't start from infancy," I continued, on a roll now. Natsu was trembling now, his face marred in surpressed rage. "You were three years old, and they grafted DNA into you and they produced a super Dragon-Slayer. Am I right?"

I could see it in his eyes, he'd snapped. Natsu lunged at me and swung out with one clawed hand, aiming for my face. Even with my lightning sharp reflexes, he managed to cuff my cheek with enough force to send me slamming into the filthy tunnel wall. Something that felt like pus — Mavis, I really hoped that's what it was — stuck to my forehead.

I sucked in a hasty breath, accepting that I was about to get the stuffing beat right out of me. Ol' Rob, though clearly being an agent of the devil, had taught us the sacred art of street fighting. Never fight fair — that's not how you are gonna win — was the first rule in the book. Use every dirty, deceitful little trick you can. Expect pain, embrace it. Expect to get hurt. If the pain comes as an unpleasant shock, then you just lost.

I turned, slowly, back to face Natsu. "Out in the real world, you would be in second grade," I stated, my tone scathing, the tang of salty blood erupting in my mouth. "If Rob had cared about you.

"Out in the real world, you would have been killed for being the disgusting little mutant freak you are."

Now the gloves were off, we had just passed the point of no return. "And you're a ... what?" I asked in mock polite confusion, an expression of innocence on my face. "Face it, Natsu. You're not just a big, scaly, seven-year-old. You're much more of an obvious freak than I will ever be. Also, your own father let it happen."

"Shut up!" Natsu screamed in fury.

I couldn't help it — I felt sorry for him for a second.

Only for a second, though.

"You see, Natsu," I said in the tone of someone starting up an innocent conversation, then launched myself forward with a roundhouse kick that would have snapped the ribs of any ordinary man. Natsu, however, merely staggered back a half a step and immediately retaliated, punching me in the stomach hard enough that black washed the edges of my sight. Mavis, he was as strong as... well, a dragon.

"You're gonna be dead meat," Natsu snarled at me. "And I mean that literally."

Then he surged forwards, claws out, ready to impale me... and he slipped.

His sandal slid on the dark, slimy tunnel ledge and, flailing his arms, landed heavily on his back. He hit the stone so hard I could literally hear the wind get knocked out of his lungs.

"Get them out of here!" I spat at Jellal – who was, for some reason, still present — and flung myself at Natsu, becoming a dead weight in midair and dropping like a rock onto his prone chest.

I could hear my heart beating in my eardrums, making a rhythmic pattern. Adrenaline, hot and alive, rushed through my blood, snaking through my body, making me into a super human, a warrior queen, a ...Titania. The memory of Natsu badly injuring Jellal on the beach flared up in my brain, zooming in on his sadistic expression — he'd been enjoying it.

Natsu placed his palms on the stone, struggling to push himself up, wheezing pathetically like an animal with pneumonia. I snatched his head with both hands, making sure to dig my nails into his scalp. My face was twisted, ugly, with the extent of my hate.

It didn't last long. He got away from me, after all, he was faster and stronger than I would ever be.

Natsu punched me again, in the same spot as last time. Through the agony induced haze, I thought I heard a rib snap. He was taking me apart, piece by tortured piece. Why did he hate me so? In fact, why did any of the Dragon-Slayers hate us this much?

"Yes, Erza, I am enjoying this. I want this... fun, to last a long, long time."

I was his punching bag now, an object simply existing for him to beat. The pain, the hurt, all the strength being aimed at me... it was unbelievable... and there wasn't a thing I could to do to make it stop.

The only thing my unraveling, frazzled sanity could cling to, my last hope, the one thing preventing me from utter destruction was the slippery ground of the sewer tunnel, the grime under his feet.

Natsu took a step back, fist raised to beat me again, and his foot landed on a thick patch of moss. It slipped — thank Mavis – and his balance wavered. In this fleeting second I saw my chance and grasped it. I raised my foot, dug my fingers into the cracked stone wall, and kicked him once more, this time in the most lethal place — the throat. My dark green shoe struck true, a good, solid, blow and he began to fail. Titania returned, the adrenaline blending with the pain and I sprang at him, every bit the fighting tiger. I grabbed his head again and we both descended, all time slowing down around us. Me, and him. It was tranquil. My brain felt calm, a kind of icy peacefulness that I had never felt before.

Then the jolt of Natsu's head smacking the tunnel wall knocked me back into the dim lit reality of the sewers. A dull, nauseating crack rang loud in my ears. My eyes met his, which were round and filled with shock. A few strands of salmon pink hair dusted his forehead, edges tipped in scarlet. Like my name.

"You... really hurt me..." He gasped out, his voice raw and interwoven with surprise. "I...wouldn't hurt you...not like...this." Natsu's last words burned before my eyes, echoed in my ears. Over and over. Faintly, I heard the hiss of air escape his lips as he breathed his last breath.

"Erza?" Simon was trying to sound calm, but it was in vain, as the shakiness in his voice was painfully obvious. "W-what was that?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the dense ringing in my ears, the tinge of shadow at the edge of my vision. "I..." My throat felt as dry as the Sahara desert. "I...I think I b-broke his neck."

A storm of boiling nausea burned in my stomach, threatening to surface. My vision swam behind my eyelids. The cold body of Natsu was there, on the edge of my consciousness and I couldn't make it go away.

"I...think he's...dead."