Warning: Errors and language.
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Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and Naruto are awesome works of Mashima Hiro and Kishimoto Masashi respectively.
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CHAPTER II: Meet Under Different Circumstances
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"Let me make it short. How will Lucy find it to see you two again if you three meet under different circumstances? Pretty nice idea, is it not?"
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Natsu woke up panting and sweating for the second time that night. Realizing that he was having another bad dream about Lucy, he pushed himself to sit. He rubbed his temples then rubbed his eyes as he calmed his heartbeats down.
Sighing in frustration, he tilted his head to the side to check if Lucy was having the best sleep of her life despite the fact that a certain pervert ice mage was holding her and keeping her warm.
He cursed out loud when he saw that Gray was sleeping soundly, without the blond stellar mage on his side.
Natsu immediately jumped to stand and ran before giving the ice mage one hell of a kick on the stomach. The poor ice mage flew several meters away and was stopped when his back slammed against a tree.
Natsu heard him growled in pain and he dashed towards him before grabbing the collar of his white jacket. "You bastard…"
Natsu was stopped when Gray punched him on the face, as hard as the fire mage's kick. "You're the bastard, bastard! What the fuck is that for!? That hurts, you know—" He cut himself as he watched Natsu stood up from the ground, the ground where he and Lucy was sleeping a while ago. "Wait, where's Lucy?"
Natsu wiped his bloody nose and lips with the back of his hand as he glared at the mage across him. "I should be asking you the same thing." He hissed through gritted teeth. "You're responsible if she got hurt, Gray. I'll swear I'll kill you if—"
"Who's responsible for this be fucking damn," Gray cut him. "Let's start looking for her, idiot!"
With this being said, both elemental wizards jumped in action and dashed, leaving the small clearing when suddenly Natsu was thrown back into the ground.
"What the hell?" He cursed and stood up immediately, running towards the same direction but he was slammed into an invisible wall in front of him. He fell on his back because of the impact. Gray watched him from behind in confusion. What's happening?
"There's something blocking the way," the ice mage concluded as he approached the invisible wall and placed a hand on its surface. He heard Natsu swore behind him. Gray took a few step backwards, placing a fist over his palm. "Let me see if I can do something," he let his magic flow from his arms to his hands and an icy blue magic circle appeared in front of him. Natsu took this time to back away from the ice mage. "Ice Make: Lance!
Large spiky ice arrows appeared and headed for the wall but surprisingly, these arrows just passed through it and they crashed through the trees in the process. Both male wizards could just watch with their jaws hanging open.
"What the fuck—"
"I think, this wall lets magic passed through it," Gray stated as he observed the invisible wall in front of them. "But everything which has life, no, I don't think so."
"I call it bullshit!" Natsu ran towards the wall and slammed his fist against it with all his might. "How could this happen?!"
"Don't let your emotions do the thinking, ash brain. Calm down first, will you?" Gray said calmly, though having a hard time controlling his temper. Deep inside, he was frustrated and angry. How could he let Lucy disappear without him knowing it? There must be a catch in there. And it wasn't good.
Observing around, Gray focused his mind in how to sneak out of this damn wall. He scanned the whole place with his dark eyes and something above them caught his attention. Looking up, he connected the dots together to make a conclusion.
"I think I know what the problem here is," Gray announced softly. Natsu gave him the look to continue. "And do not interrupt me, understand?" The dragon slayer gave him a small and firm nod. Gray straightened his posture and cleared his throat. "Our mission is to capture this mage that kidnaps other mages, right? So I have the feeling that this mage was involved in this situation."
Natsu made a grunting sound but Gray glared at him to keep him quiet. "I said no interruptions." When Natsu started to calm himself down, the ice mage proceeded to continue. "And I think that mage's current target is Lucy and in order to capture her, he had to do something to put us out in the list. That's why he made this barrier to stop us from following Lucy." He paused and shifted his weight to his other foot. "And I have a feeling that Lucy's fighting that mage right now — don't give me that look, Natsu. I wanted to beat the shit out of that bastard as much as you want but now, do not let your emotions do all the thinking."
"But she's in danger! Of course we have to do something fast!"
"I know but we have to think a plan first—"
"The hell with that plan! She's already hurt before we could even make a plan!"
"Fuck off, Natsu. You still don't get it, do you?"
"If I did, then what do you think am I doing here in the first place?"
"This is totally going the wrong fucking way," Gray muttered and proceeded to tell Natsu what he had found out. Like he had any other choice anyway. Looking up the sky, he spoke. "See that fog over there?" Natsu tilted his head and glanced up towards the foggy sky. "That's keeping us from leaving this place. As well as that damn wall."
"And how in Earthland do you think we will do to get fucking rid of that?"
"When I find out, I'd tell you but now," Gray looked over the forest behind him. "We have to trust Lucy and her abilities to win her own fight right now."
Natsu inwardly agreed. He'd always have faith in Lucy. Gray had, too. She wasn't weak anymore, well weaker than them a little but her will wasn't something anybody could've underestimated.
She's strong. Better yet, powerful. She wouldn't be that easy to defeat. Natsu and Gray smirked. Any mage who dare mess with her would be damned.
XXXXX
"Bullshit!" Natsu exclaimed so loud and immediately stood up from the ground he was seating.
Gray was startled at the sudden reaction before he threw glares to the dragon slayer across him. "What the fuck is your problem, ash brain?"
"I can't smell her anymore," he paused and sniffed the air. "Her scent was fading!"
Gray stood up and looked over the direction of the forest. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know—"
"Why do you not know?! Don't just stand there and do something, asshole!"
"Hey! Don't 'do something, asshole' me, asshole! If I know what to do, I would have done it ages ago!"
Gray clicked his tongue and glared at the ground. "Why in the fucking hell Erza wasn't here when we needed her the most?! Damn it!"
"Don't let your emotions do the thinking, droopy eyes," Gray glared at the pinkette and gritted his teeth, maybe calming his self.
After some moments of dead silence, an invisible force hit the two mages that made them frozen, wide eyes and mouth slightly parted.
"Fuck. Lucy!" Natsu cursed then banged the invisible wall with his burning fist, forcing himself to break the goddamn wall.
Gray didn't know exactly what happened but he could tell that Lucy disappeared. As if a sudden force told him that she's gone. She's gone in a way that she wasn't dead yet. She's gone in a way that she was thrown into another place. A place that they couldn't reach. Like Edolas. Or maybe, worst.
He was snapped out from his thoughts when he felt that the fog was lifted. That means the invisible wall was gone.
"Don't just stand there, bastard! Let's go!" Natsu called out, he was already running towards the forest. Gray, still shocked, followed him immediately.
Two things were left in the two wizards' minds. Beat that mage and bring Lucy back no matter what.
XXXXX
After Natsu followed Lucy's fading scent, both Fairy Tail wizards ended up in a seemingly familiar small clearing. They saw the tree with a hole, the burnt grass and flesh — Lucy's flesh to be exact. Like the place they saw earlier. But this time, a cloaked man was standing across the clearing, his back facing them and he looked like he was about to leave the place.
Figuring that his scent was most likely the one Natsu smelled earlier that afternoon in their search for the rogue mage and Lucy's scent had completely disappeared, both wizards crouched down and attacked the mage with their deadly attacks.
They saw how the man skilfully avoided Natsu's waves of fire and some of Gray's deadly ice arrows.
He's good, Gray complimented in his mind. But the mage missed two arrows and those hit him on the shoulder. He made a soft wince. Gray smirked. But not good enough, he added.
After some few seconds, the man regained his composure and gazed towards the two wizards who looked like they were ready for a frenzy killing.
The man placed a hand on his waist. "This would be interesting." The man they attacked said as he smirked at them.
Bastard! Thought Gray, how could he smirk like that in front of us?! As if our attacks didn't hurt him at all! He's underestimating us. He'll gonna pay for what he did to Lucy!
Gray felt Natsu readying for another attack and he stopped the dragon slayer by placing a hand in front of the pinkette. Natsu gave him a confused glare. The ice mage would later deny that he was sort of scared by the looks on Natsu's face. It was murderous and dangerous. Instead, the ice mage shot the dragon slayer a knowing look.
In the past years of experiencing expression reading, Natsu understood what Gray was trying to say without the use of words and he nodded. He turned his face towards the mage and sent glaring daggers to him.
"Where's Lucy?" He hissed. He tried his very best to say it as calm as he could. It came out like a supressed growl.
The man turned his head slowly to the left then to the right. He refocused his sight towards the wizards and he shrugged his shoulders, while spreading his arms slightly. As if telling them that he didn't know.
A vein appeared in the dragon slayer's forehead. "And what do you mean you do not know?" Natsu spat.
The man chuckled, making the wizards' glares intensify tenfold. "I did not say I do not know where dear Lucy is," he paused while shifting his weight slightly. "And I know very, very well where she is. Guess what? I am not planning to tell you, or anyone in this… world." He chuckled again like an insane person.
"Bastard…" Natsu hissed.
Gray took this chance to confront the man himself instead of Natsu. "We don't expect that you'll tell us anyway," his expression darkened. "We just wanted to know where she is. If you don't answer, we'll just force you to bring her back to us instead."
"It is amazing how you look so calm and composed in the outside and yet, you are aggravated like the pink head beside you in the inside."
"Don't be amazed at me, you bastard!" Gray hissed, nearly out of controlling his own temper. "Just tell me where the hell is Lucy?!"
The man chuckled again. "My, my… What are you worrying Lucy for? I assure you that she is in good hands."
"Good hands, my ass. Just why don't you tell us where she is?"
"Hm, let us see…" The man shifted his weight again and put a hand under his chin, showing the two wizards his usual thinking pose. "I see to it you cannot take good care of her well… So, I came up with a brilliant idea to take her with me and I will take good care of her in your stead. What do you think?"
"Fuck you. Don't just tell us we can't take care of her, bastard! You do not know anything about her so why would you care?"
"I care, simply because I have the right to care." The man chuckled and spread his arms in a disbelieving gestures as she shook his head slightly. "I really cannot believe it that you care for her that much and yet, you do not know how lonely you made her feel. That is pretty ridiculous. And you call yourselves her friends? What a shame…"
"You know nothing so just shut the fuck up!" Natsu growled, his temper was harder and harder to control. Gray sensed this and he decided to stop him before he was killed in no time.
"Stay calm. That man was using your emotion to let your guard down. He is tricking you." Gray calmly said.
"But I am not. I am just telling you all the truth, and what I deem the truth. It is you that I quote know nothing about dear Lucy." The man said, now investigating a non-existent dirt on his fingers.
Natsu growled louder and charged tons of fire in both hands. He crouched down on the ground, his eyes were darkened by pure hatred and anger.
"Damn it, Natsu, stop!" And Gray's words fell on deaf ears as Natsu lunged towards the man. Two massive fires appeared in Natsu's back and he charged it to the man. "Fire Dragon: Wing Slash!"
The man stared at the fires with amusement and awe but before he was hit by the fire, he smirked and then…
BOOOM!
A deafening explosion was heard followed by a blinding bright light. Gray had to cover himself to avoid dust and flying rocks.
When the light died down, Gray straightened his posture and saw Natsu landing on the ground effortlessly. The dragon slayer approached the ice mage. He gave him a small glance before walking passed through Gray. "Let's find Lucy."
Although Gray was hesitant at first, he couldn't doubt Natsu's ability in fighting. That Wing Slash attack might sent the man to hell but still, the ice mage had a feeling that there's something wrong.
"Droopy eyes, are you just going to fuck yourself there or what?" Natsu was in no mood right now to celebrate his win against the bastard especially when their comrade Lucy was nowhere to be found. He could just later tease the ice queen about doing nothing in fighting the rogue mage when they found the blonde mage. Her scent may have disappeared, but he could still feel some remnants of her magical energy so she wasn't that far from them, if she was abducted. Great, he had still some good amount of angry magical energy to spend.
"Huh, you're slow. Killing the man in about five fucking minutes. If I was the one who killed him, it would just take a minute or two, fire boy." Gray put his hands inside the pockets of his pants and walked passed through Natsu.
"Yeah? Tell me that when you admit that you're like a chicken earlier! Just standing behind and enjoying the scene before you!"
"Who the fuck told you I was enjoying the scene? It was like a fight between amateurs!"
"Amateurs my ass, droopy eyes. Just admit it already while Lucy wasn't here."
"I'll admit nothing. Why don't just shut your pansy mouth up and let's do now the searching?"
"So you are bossing me around now, huh? If there's someone who's gonna be the boss, that would most likely be me because I did all the work for you."
"Work? Is that what you call work? That man was just terribly weak he was beaten by your lousy attacks."
"Dragon slayer attacks aren't lousy!"
"Prove me, then."
"You asked for it, never regret it," Natsu smirked, readying his fists.
"I should be the one telling you that line." Gray returned the smirk and both wizards crouched down to show their fighting stances.
And when the two elemental wizards were about to start the fight of the century, both were frozen half-way towards the other when a low chuckle filled the entire silence of the night. Both mages turned their head towards the jumbled rocks on the ground, the spot where Natsu unleashed his deadly attack towards a certain dark mage earlier.
Both watched in pure disbelief and shocked for what they saw. In the middle of the small crater with rocks stood a lone figure of a man in a black cloak. His hood was hanging down on his back as his long spiky hair floated along the wind. Gray and Natsu could see the man's one visible eye. It was like a pool of blood inside a black hole.
Then a sudden wave of shiver snapped the two out of their horrified thoughts. And for the first time in a long time, both wizards felt a strong feeling of fear inside their bodies.
And who the hell was this man who had this power to scare a mighty dragon slayer and a skilled ice wizard in just one look? The two gulped hard the lump forming in their throats.
Lucy flashed in their minds suddenly. Realizing that this man was nothing other than a sick sorry of a damned mage, both Fairy Tail wizards readied themselves to take the battle more seriously.
"This mage is something we just cannot underestimate." Gray said softly, his eyes never leaving the mage. He put his right fist over his left palm, his hard expression intensified. An ice-shaped bazooka appeared and rested on Gray's right shoulder. And with a loud battle cry, he shouted, "Ice Wizard Power: Canon!"
The ice canon threw a massive ball of hard ice in an incredible speed, advancing towards the cloaked man. With a nervous and yet hopeful expression, both wizards watched the ice hit the man directed to his stomach.
But before the smoke, little rocks and dust appeared due to the impact, Gray saw with wide eyes that his ice went just passed through the man.
"What the—"
"Take that, you bullshit!" Natsu exclaimed, trying to fight the urge to attack the mage.
"Oh shit!" Gray cursed making Natsu threw him a confused look. The ice mage gritted his teeth in anger and frustration.
When the dust and smoke subsided, the two wizards stared at the man in a black cloak standing in the middle of a now larger crater. Natsu stared with wide eyes and disbelieving look while Gray clenched his fists and clicked his tongue out of anger.
"What the fuck, ice queen? That was a direct hit!" Natsu cursed, his eyes never leaving the man across him.
"I know. My attack just passed through it, like what had happen to that fucking damn wall earlier. I should've known better."
Natsu crouched down a little and threw several glaring daggers towards the man. "What the fuck are you?"
"I think he's using some sort of Illusion Magic. Be warned," Gray muttered softly as he thought for several ways how to deal with an Illusion Mage.
The man chuckled, catching the two males' attention in the process. "You have an interesting magical abilities indeed. A fire and an ice wizard. How amazing. But," his tone dropping dangerously low, "that wasn't anything rare or unique. That wasn't new or something. Was it? And then you had the courage to underestimate dear Lucy's abilities. How dare you all?"
This statement startled both Gray and Natsu. The anger was starting to arouse inside of them again.
"Watch your words, you piece of shit! You know nothing about us at all so it's better to shut the fuck up!"
"But I know everything about you. Each of you. You are just nothing but some sort of garbage, trying to mess with dear Lucy's life. Did you even know that?"
"Stop this fucking nonsense! Why don't you fucking fight me and show me what you've fucking got?" Natsu dared the man.
"Compared to any of you, I prefer to battle for such good reasons. And dealing with such low level wizards will be just a waste of my time, so…"
And that did it. Natsu lunged forward again, his fist was burning with angry fires. Gray tried to stop him but he just received a menacing glare from the enraged dragon slayer.
Natsu pulled his arm back a little then thrust it forward directed to the man who had that teasing smirk on his face. Noticing that fucking smirk, Natsu doubled the amount of magic charged in his fist and with a battle cry he punched the man's face hoping to get rid of that smirk. "Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!"
And Natsu expected to feel the flesh on his fist but when nothing came, and the man was still in his front, he could just stare in utter shock. Before he could come out of something, he felt a pang of painful burning sensation on his stomach. The man's counter attack was just so strong that Natsu went on flying towards Gray who could just watch the scene, trying to figure out what had happen.
Out of reflex, Gray caught Natsu instantly before the dragon slayer slammed himself towards a hard rock nearby. Helping him to stand, the ice mage noticed something on Natsu's stomach.
"What the hell is that?" He observed the burnt flesh and the red markings around the skin. "Electricity? That mage was a lightning mage?"
Natsu ignored him and pushed him aside as he approached the man until he stood several meters away from him.
"It seems like my Chidori did not hurt you or anything. I was pretty impressed."
"I don't have any time to deal with your fucking compliments. I am getting and getting all fired up now."
The man chuckled before said chuckle died down in his throat all of the sudden. He realized for a moment that he was wasting his time dealing with these idiots. He had acquired what he needed. He did not have to waste any more time. He narrowed his brows at the thought. He has to end all of these shits because he had to do something more important.
He decided to kill them. That was the easiest way he could think of to end all this nonsense. Or just leave them be and let their life be miserable for losing Lucy. He chuckled at the thought, very sadistic thought.
"Alright, I have enough of the both of you. You have wasted half of my precious time, you know. Dear Lucy must be waiting for me. She was not a woman of patience as she quoted to herself after all." With this said, he turned around and walked away but was stop by a voice.
Gray growled. "You're going nowhere, shithead."
He looked over his shoulder and saw Natsu's body fuming with fire. Oh how he loved that sight. Making people so angry and so pissed off… before ripping their heads off of their body? What a pleasant sight that would be.
"Damn straight! If you don't want to tell us where our Lucy is, then just bring us to her!" Natsu shouted back.
By this, the man paused, turned around and looked at them. He replayed what the dragon slayer had said in his mind. Bring them to her? That would be a great idea but of course, an evil idea.
He knew it was stupid but he loved to have fun so much. Besides, he didn't see anything wrong with the idea. And if there would be a problem, he'd just kill them all. End of story. So, he would do it.
"That is a great idea, mister firecracker."
"Hey, did you just fucking call me firecracker?!"
"Bring the two of you to dear Lucy? Now that I thought about it…" His voice once again dropped too low for their liking. "I can really bring you to her."
"That's fucking what we wanted in the first place!" Natsu exclaimed as hope get the better of him. Gray was just standing beside him, hands were crossed against his chest as he stared at the man suspiciously. He could sense the catch in that offer and he knew it was for no good.
The man chuckled. Gray didn't miss the mischief in his eyes, making the ice mage glared at him in the process. "Sure. I can bring you to her." His red eyes started to spin violently as an unknown energy fumed out of his body. His hair was floating in mid-air and he had that evil smile on his face.
Both wizards suddenly felt so much dread and fear but shrugged the thought off when Lucy came flashing in their minds.
"But," the man's voice dropping low again, "being the bad guy here, I just do not want you to see her like how you two imagine it to be. Greet each other like childhood buddies… That will be so melodramatic. And that will not be fun, so…"
He chuckled again and his eyes stopped spinning, revealing a strange symbol in those crimson orbs. "Why do we not change the story a little? Dear Lucy, being the protagonist…" Light threads of black and white came out from those eyes and started spinning in a pinwheel like manner, resembling to a vortex. "And you, the antagonist."
Natsu had just realized that it wasn't a good idea to negotiate with a dark mage. They're tricky and definitely life threatening. He and Gray readied themselves again for a foreseeable battle.
Amused by their reactions, the man continued, "Have you ever thought how it would feel when you are killed by one of your beloved friends?" He heard both of them cursed when they felt some force yanking them towards the darkness of the vortex.
"Oh, shit! Shit!" Natsu grabbed Gray by his jacket while the latter held the grass beneath them that was totally useless as they were being yanked forcefully into the darkness ahead.
"I know you have not. But, happy ever after ending does not really exist all the time. Do you agree?"
The two elemental mages were being pulled closer and closer to the vortex.
"So, I came up with this magnificent idea — credits to you a little, by the way. Why don't the three of you, the best of friends in the whole wide world as you may call it, meet each other again? But not in a good way?"
The vortex grew stronger and Natsu's body was being sucked that moment. He kept on cursing while Gray kept on pulling him out but to no avail.
"Let me make it short. How will Lucy find it to see you two again if you three meet under different circumstances? Pretty nice idea, is it not?"
"What the fuck, you're insane!" Natsu growled then disappeared into the vortex.
Gray followed, too but he kept on pulling away. "Argh, Natsu!"
"Stop struggling. I thought you wanted to see dear Lucy? I am giving you this rare opportunity."
"Opportunity my hot ass, you dickhead! Don't be so sure that Lucy will be happy being with you! You're the one who will cause her future pain and suffering!"
"I will give her the world she dreamed of — which you two can never afford to offer… I will give her the life she wanted since you made her feel so, so unappreciated."
"If you wanted her to be happy, then bring her home!"
"Home is where she can be strong and powerful and that would be with me."
"Fuck you. You'll just use her for your selfish desires!"
"Shut up. You know nothing."
"I may know nothing but I know that Lucy will never ever be yours because she never wanted this to happen. You will just use her! And when she can benefit you no more, you will just throw her away! So much for your talking, you fucktard!"
"Lies!" The man roared angrily and glared at the young man whose lower body was in the vortex that moment. "Lucy is mine. She was, she is and she always will be." With this said, the vortex sucked Gray completely and with a loud cry, he disappeared as well as the vortex.
The man glared at the ground and clicked his tongue out of anger. He rubbed his temples gently and put his hood on after fixing his long spiky hair a little.
"Damn brats. I hope I won't regret bringing those fools in my world." Making some hand symbols and muttering something the world of wizards couldn't understand, the man disappeared in thin air, going back to his own precious world where Lucy was waiting for him.
Or so he thought.
Chapter II — END.