Hello, once again! I said the updates would be coming more frequently, and I don't want to disappoint. Here's Chapter 3 for ya!
Gray and Lucy panicked. They were alone, exhausted, emotionally distraught, and outnumbered. By how many, they didn't know, but they knew that if a fight were to break out, they wouldn't stand a chance. There was a chance that those people would offer them help Gray and Lucy, but after what they just went through, neither one was too trusting. Gray looked down at Lucy and noticed she still had her Spirit keys. He began thinking of a plan to at least get her to safety.
He pulled her head in close, placed his hand over her mouth, and softly whispered in her ear, "I'm going out there, alone." Lucy's eyes widened, but Gray kept going, "When I say so, summon Loke or Virgo, and have them get you out of here. Where they take you, I don't care, just make sure it's someplace safe. If this group will help us, I'll come and get you myself. If I yell for you, get out of here."
Lucy pried Gray's hand off her mouth. "You don't have to do this alone," she breathed.
"One of us needs to keep going. Your Spirits can look after you and protect you until you find help." Gray turned Lucy around so she was facing him. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her in close, leaning his forehead against hers. "I know you're scared. I'm terrified out of my mind right now. You have the best chance of making it out of here, and if at least one of us can survive, our guild can still live on." Gray circled his arms around Lucy, resting his head on her shoulder. She returned his embrace as he said, "You can do this, Lucy. If I make it out, I'll find you. I will try my hardest to survive this, whatever this might be. But what you need to focus on is getting out of here. Can you do this?"
Another shout came from the road. "We can wait all night, but trust us," the voice became more sinister, "you don't want to keep us waiting."
Gray turned his head slightly and threw a harsh glare in the direction of the voice. Lucy looked up at him, tears pooling in her eyes. She shook her head a few times before taking on a mask of confidence. "You better come back to me, Gray," she whispered.
Gray tightened his arms around her before letting go. He set her gently against the tree, ever mindful of her injury, took a deep breath, and walked out.
A party of five people greeted Gray on the path. The man in front, a pale, muscular man with scraggly brown hair and a scar running from his right brow down his neck, stood at the front of the pack. Behind him were a husky man with red hair, a younger, lanky blond, and a set of twin women with jet black hair. None of them looked too friendly.
The man in front sneered as he stepped forward. "Well, well. You look like you've had a rough day. Tell me, what are you doing out here?" The man's malicious voice set Gray on edge.
Gray considered the current situation. I can't risk telling them about what happened to Fairy Tail. They might try to take advantage. I might be able to talk my way out of this, and Lucy and I can be on our way.
"I'm returning home from a mission. I fell out of a tree earlier today trying to figure out my location, and that's how I got banged up." Gray thought for a moment more before speaking again. "It's getting late, and I'm tired, so can you just let me be?" He hoped they would just leave, seeing as how he wasn't a threat to them.
The brown haired man snickered. "And where are you returning to? The only town this way is Magnolia, and word's gotten around fast that that place is destroyed."
Gray panicked. So these guys knew about the attack. He gritted his teeth. Maybe they were involved in it. "What exactly do you know about the attack in Magnolia?"
"We just heard about it not too long ago, so all we know is that the town is completely in ruins, including the Fairy Tail guild. There have always been rumors about some sort of secret power that Fairy Tail keeps hidden, so we thought we'd go check it out."
Shock took over Gray's face. He couldn't believe it. Not only had the news about Magnolia and Fairy Tail gotten around so quickly, but sick individuals were trying to scavenge his guild for its secrets just hours after its destruction and the loss of so many lives. Keep it together. He couldn't initiate a fight with them, no matter how much they deserved it.
Lucy was appalled with what she was hearing. This gang, wizards, presumably, intended on raiding the remains of Fairy Tail for some kind of power that's been protected by the guild for years. She quickly grew concerned for Gray. She knew he was trying to be diplomatic in hopes of getting the group to leave, but she doubted how much longer Gray would be able to stay calm for much longer. She felt very offended by what the horrid man was saying, and she didn't even have to see his face while he said it. She couldn't even imagine what this exchange was like for Gray.
She placed her hand on her Spirit keys, trying to feel for Loke's. She had a bad feeling that a fight was going to break out. Gray's instructions be damned, she wasn't going to leave her last fellow guild member behind.
The brown-haired man spoke again. "You seem like a nice guy, so I'll tell you what. You come with us to Magnolia to seek out Fairy Tail's hidden power, and not only will we let you go, but we'll even let you have a piece of the power, as long as you promise not to use it on us."
Gray clenched his fist, steeling himself. "And what if I refuse to go with you?"
The sneer returned, but the man's eyes turned violent. "Then we've got nothing to lose by killing you."
He surged forward, a black, wispy aura surrounding his hands. Gray dodged the punch aimed at his gut. He threw himself head-first towards the ground, extending his arms to catch himself and give himself leverage to send a kick towards the brown-haired leader. As the kick connected, Gray sprung himself to the side, landing on his feet and facing the mob. The leader rejoined his ranks and smirked.
Man, Gray was getting sick of this guy's face.
The twins moved next. Their hands linked together as they rushed towards Gray, a sickly white aura glowing where their hands met. Gray tried to duck, but they were too fast. They clotheslined him, knocking him onto the ground. He groaned as he tried to get up, but stopped when he felt cool, sharp metal touching his skin. He looked up and saw the blond man holding a sword, the tip at Gray's neck.
Gray flopped back on the ground, trying to think. Lucy! He needed her to get out of here. He really didn't care what happened to him, but she had a chance. She could still get out.
He grabbed the sword with both hands, keeping the sharp edge of the blade just between his palms, and tried to twist it out of the blond's hand. The blond maintained his hold, so Gray settled for moving the blade away from him so he could slip out from underneath. He threw a kick at the blond's feet, forcing him to back up in order to dodge, and Gray pushed himself up off the ground. The blond shot forward, moving to slice Gray with his blade. Gray dodged, only to back up into the redhead and the leader.
To his relief, he noticed they were away from the tree Lucy was hiding behind. Thinking this was as good a time as ever, he called out to her. "Lucy! Get out of here!"
Lucy's eyes widened at Gray's command, and her heart raced. She knew why Gray wanted her to escape without him, but she couldn't bear to leave him. She hated the idea of Fairy Tail dying with them, but if she left Gray behind,she might as well forsake the Fairy Tail name with him; Fairy Tail members never abandoned each other. She pulled out Loke's key, drew in a breath, and hobbled around the tree.
She kept her eyes closed as she moved, whether it was out of pain or fear, she didn't know, but she cleared the bush around the tree and held up the key.
Gray gasped, the surprise of seeing Lucy looking like she was going to fight forcing his eyes wide open and his mouth agape. "Lucy, what are-"
"Open! Gate of the Lion! Loke!" she shouted out. In a flash of golden light, the form of a man with hair as wild as a lion's mane materialized. The light faded to reveal Loke, Lucy's most powerful Spirit.
He had been watching the whole ordeal from the Celestial Spirit World. He already knew about the destruction of Fairy Tail, about Gray and Lucy's situation, and about Gray's stupid attempt at self-sacrifice. He did Gray for his willingness to protect Lucy, but he really should have known Lucy wouldn't just leave him. Oh well, no use in thinking about hta right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to.
Loke launched himself at the man with the sword. Since he was the only one with a visible weapon, Loke wanted to eliminate that threat first. The blond swordsman held his blade out in front, ready to ward off the oncoming attack, but Loke powered through. He kicked the blade out of his way before landing on the blond man The force knocked the both of them to the ground, Loke on top. "Regulus Impact!" he cried out. His fist slammed into the blond's face, forcing head head into the ground and cracking the earth beneath. A bit of overkill given the close proximity and that he had no where he could go, but Loke was glad to take him out.
Meanwhile, Gray got back into the fight, going against the redhead and the leader. The redhead was easy to deal with, catching him off guard with an elbow to the throat followed by a punch to the temple. Simple enough. He turned his attention back to the leader. The leader came forward with his hands glowing black. Gray ducked and aimed a kick at the leader's gut. The leader grabbed Gray's foot with his blackened hand, and Gray instantly felt energy leaving his body, not that he had much going into this fight anyways. He used his other leg to kick at the leader and try to free himself. The force from the kick caused the leader to loosen his grip on Gray's leg.
Gray tried to stand up, but the leg that the leader had just been hilding felt heavy, like it was asleep. He gritted his teeth at the feeling of it, but otherwise ignored it and tried to focus on the task at hand. The leader had that same damn sneer on his face, and Gray decided he wanted his finishing blow to be to the leader's face so he couldn't smirk like that again. Feeling gradually returned to his foot, and Gray readied himself for his next move. He didn't have much time to prepare, though, as the leader lurched forward with his black glowing hands. Instead of dodging, Gray waited for him to get close, then threw a kick at his side. The leader staggered at the kick, giving Gray an opening to attack. He jumped on the leader, straddling him, and forced the leader's head around until he heard a definite snap. He knocked his elbow into the leader's head, and he was down for the count.
Looking over at Loke and Lucy, he saw them fighting the twins, Loke using a barrage of Regulus attacks, and Lucy using her fleuve d'etoiles. The twins for the most part seemed focused on Loke. As each of their attacks landed on Loke, he seemed to be losing a lot of energy, and Gray briefly wondered if their magic was similar to their leader's. One of the twins got behind him and delivered a powerful punch into his back. Loke gasped before disappearing into the Celestial Spirit World, saying "I'm sorry" to Lucy as he vanished.
Two against two. On a normal day, in a normal situation, this would seem like a fair matchup. But it wasn't. Lucy was barely able to stand; she was only able to keep her whip out to fend off attacks, not necessarily to land any attacks herself. Gray was just about spent, on the verge of passing out. His leg still lagged, and using it for that kick didn't help its recovery. He felt sore from the injuries he received when Incubus Horde attacked, and he felt fatigued from walking around, carrying Lucy, and fighting. They had taken out three of the five gang members; they were so close, yet still impossibly far.
The twins didn't seem to notice Gray; either that, or they didn't care. They launched an attack on Lucy, coming at her from opposite sides. There was no way she was going to be able to ward both of them off. Why doesn't she summon Horologium? he thought, then he saw them: her keys were lying on the other side of the road. One of the twins must have grabbed her keys and tossed them. At that point they were too close to Lucy. Gray knew he wouldn't be able to rush over to her in time, so he tried to gather whatever magic energy he could.
"Ice-Make: Shield!"
Yeah, so kind of a mild cliffhanger there at the end. Twice in a row, I kinda feel like an ass for doin' that. Oh well. Not to be a nudge or anything, but reviews are always appreciated. Anyways, I'll see you next time!^U^
bb - out.
