Loud crashes and the sounds of bullets raining through the air was all that could be heard on the battlefield. The air surrounding the war zone was arid, devoid of even the tiniest breeze which made breathing even more difficult to do. And if that wasn't enough the stench was enough to make anyone want to keel over and hurl up the last meal they had eaten. From all of the bombs going off and other artillery, the fumes burned at your nostrils, threatening to clog your airways as you gasped for a breath of pure oxygen.
"Pull back the front lines!" the Captain's voice managed to break through the chaos. Despite being in such a high ranked position he still stood with his men at the front lines, fighting beside them every step of the way.
"Damn," the Captain muttered under his breath, pausing his fire for a moment to wipe away the sweat dripping down his face, tufts of pink hair peeking through from under his helmet. The enemy was still managing to push them back even farther no matter what tactic they seemed to use today. They always managed to predict what they were about to do. Damn Fiore's Commander. She was being a real pain in the-
"Captain!" One of his best men ran over to him, sweating bullets. "We need to retreat! We're giving up too much land!" the man yelled, his long black hair tied back.
"There still might be a way to salvage this battle yet," The Captain insisted, his eyes hardening with a new determined fire lighting up his green eyes. "Mard, take over for me for a bit, I need to try something." When Mard went to protest he cut him a sharp glare. "Don't argue with me. My name ain't Natsu Dragneel for nothin'!" he couldn't help but grin almost deviously before sprinting off.
"If I can just find a crack in their formation then we might be able to be back in the game," Natsu murmured to himself, his eyes scanning Fiore's army as he ran further and further away from his men. "Ha! There!" he laughed, pointing his finger ahead, where the soldiers had been split up from one of their previous attacks. He began running back to his army to take control again, to drive his forces into Fiore's army and split them apart. It could just work, he knew it. But before he could reach his troops a huge blast threw him backwards, a cry escaping from his throat as he was thrown back, separated from the rest. His body smacked against the ground, his head slamming against the hard terrain and rendering him unconscious, thankfully giving him a short reprieve from pain.
After the major explosion that separated Alvarez's army from their second in command, the battle quickly died out as Mard had everyone retreat, direct orders from Zeref after Natsu hadn't reappeared.
On the other side, Fiore cheered as Zeref's army ran off until their Commander spoke up. "Save the celebrating until tonight, we still have work to do," A petite blonde woman stood on the top of a tank, her long blonde waves reaching past her waist. "Let's clean up and tend to the wounded. You all know what to do!"
"Aye Commander!" everyone raised a hand to their foreheads, saluting their great leader before scurrying off to start their each assigned duties. The soldiers began quickly gathering up their weapons, being careful to make sure they didn't leave anything behind. Sometimes that resulted in people having to sift through the parched and dying grass to find pieces of ammo they had dropped. Those who weren't on cleanup duty or manning a vehicle helped aid their wounded comrades in any way possible, which most of the time meant bringing them to the team of medics they had.
The medic team was made up mostly of women, girls that you would never expect to see in the middle of the fields of war in Alvarez. Their best doctor on staff was a younger women by the name of Lucy Heartfilia, who had long blonde hair that went down to her waist, even with it being tied up in a high ponytail. The uniform she wore was the same as all of the other medics, and similar to that of the soldiers. It consisted of a thick pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt to protect them against shrapnel, bomb blasts, anything of the sort as they healed the wounded.
Bright red crosses were embroidered onto the sleeve of their right arm so that people could differentiate between a soldier and a medic. To complete the look their feet were clad with sturdy black combat boots.
"Has anyone seen Lu-chan?" Levy, a petite blue haired girl asked. She was another medic like Lucy, her best friend and her second in command. Her bangs were kept back by a camouflage headband which she managed to pull off.
"I haven't seen her since after we blasted the Alvarez bastards and made them run home with their tails between their legs," Gray answered her, but he didn't look too concerned even if Lucy was his friend. He knew she was one tough chick. "I'm sure she's around helping someone out."
Levy nodded her head firmly, pushing away her worries. "Yeah, you're probably right. Come on, help me load some of the injured into the jeeps so we can bring them back to base."
"Ugh, my head..." Lucy moaned, clutching her head which throbbed painfully. All she remembered was that she had gotten too close to the Alvarez army and then a bright flash of light. "I must have gotten too close to the crossfire," she mumbled to herself as she looked around, trying to get a feel for her surroundings. There was a lake to her left, some trees up ahead, and her friends nowhere in sight. Ok, that's fine. The blast just separated me a bit from the group. I'm sure they are close by.
Before she stood up she moved her arms and legs, wiggled her toes and fingers to see if she was hurt as her adrenaline began dying down. Her right wrist hurt as she moved it around but it wasn't broken. Just a slight sprain, nothing bad. There was also a cut on her forehead but besides that she was fine.
"All right Lucy, let's get moving," the blonde coached herself, pushing herself up off of the ground. Thankfully she found her medic bag a little ways away which she picked up, brushing the dirt off of it. "Now to go back to base…wherever that is," she sighed. Nothing around her looked even remotely familiar to her. Picking a direction on instinct she began moving forward. That's all she could do, keep moving and be positive.
Lucy lugged her medic bag with her, making her way through the rough terrain. This area was dotted with trees, a complete contrast to the battlefield. When she ran from the bomb when she realized it was going off she must have went far. As she continued hiking through the forest area, almost tripping and landing on her face multiple times. All she wanted to do right now was take a nice, hot bath back at the base.
While daydreaming about all of the things she wanted but couldn't do right now, the toe of Lucy's shoe caught on a tree root that poked out of the ground causing her to fall with a cry. "Ughh…stupid nature," she complained, picking herself up off of the ground into a crouched position.
Looking around quickly, Lucy moved to stand until she saw a figure on the ground a little ways away. She froze, squinting her eyes as she tried to figure out what the mass was. "It's a person!" Lucy gasped, immediately springing to her feet with her medical bag in hand as she raced over.
Before she reached him she caught sight of his uniform and stopped in her tracks. That wasn't a Fiore uniform. It was one from Alvarez. But his uniform was stained with blood, she could tell that from over here. For all she knew he was dead. Or he could be saved.
Pushing away any thoughts she started hurrying to him again. No matter what country he was from, which side he fought for, he was still human. No one deserved to be left alone, injured in the woods to die.
Lucy knelt beside him, putting her hand on his neck and waited. She felt a tiny pulse showing that he was still fighting to stay alive. "Just hang in here," she murmured, moving her hand to unbutton his shirt.
Just as her fingers brushed against the material, a hand shot up, grabbing her wrist tightly. Lucy stifled a scream, only letting out a soft gasp as her eyes moved up to his face where blazing green eyes glared at her. But they were the most striking eyes she had ever seen. His pink bangs framing them perfectly.
"Who are you?" the man growled, not letting go of her but at least his grip on her wrist, although tight, wasn't enough to hurt her…yet.
Lucy swallowed hard, sitting up a bit taller so she appeared stronger than she felt. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am the head medic of Fiore's army. I found you here hurt so I'm going to help you."
Lucy watched as the man's glare disappeared and shifted into a look of surprise. "You want to help me? Your enemy?" he asked warily, brows knitting in suspicion.
"Yes, I do," the blonde nodded her head firmly, her eyes narrowed. "No matter what I am a medic and my job is to heal people and I will do that. So do you want my help or not?"
She watched as the man stared her down for another moment before sighing and letting go of her wrist. "Sure thing, it's not like I have anything to lose."
Lucy let her hard expression soften as he agreed. "That is true but you don't have to worry. I'm not a soldier, I'm not going to kill you. That would be going against everything I live by," she unbuttoned his shirt, this time him allowing her to. "What's your name?"
The pink haired soldier, blinked, seeming surprised that she even bothered to ask before he smiled somewhat wryly, and a soft chuckle escaped his mouth, as obvious exhaustion bore down him him. "Natsu," he stated "The name's Natsu."