Promise Light
Chapter 4; Broken Shackles
Forest floors moved under their feet as the pair passed through the tall woodland trees. Leaves rustled in the evening breeze under the blue chalk sky, stained with strokes of pink and gold with the oncoming sunset. Voice whispered up ahead when two men appeared in the distance of the dragon slayer and exceed's path. It caught Natsu's ear when one of the two men took on a stern tone.
"Hey, did you hear about what's happening over at the other end of the forest?" A short, wide-bellied man asked another, dressed in old worn clothes; a fisherman maybe?
"Yeah, I heard there's some kind of beast destroying everything." The other taller but thinly built man shivered. "I'm not even sure if it's safe to be on this end of the forest." He continued, looking worryingly about the forest. Strangely, he hadn't seemed to notice the pink-haired boy and cat passing casually a little further away.
Their conversation between themselves stopped with the appearance of a young boy coming flying towards them. He was smaller than average but had fast legs with black hair as he sprinted to a stop in front of the two men with a gleaming spark of excitement in his little blue eyes.
"Guess what I just saw!" The young child exclaimed, almost bouncing out of his shoes. Natsu became suddenly very interested as he felt an odd feeling churn up in his stomach. The dragon slayer quickly slid behind a tree, listening incognito to the boy's conversation. Happy didn't understand its importance but slid behind the tree next to his friend and listened closely as well.
"What is it, kid?" The wider man grumbled, obviously intrigued by the kid's question. However at the same time, his eyes held a unhopeful gaze, showing how easily he believed a child got excited.
"You know that beast on the other end of the forest?" The kid bounced, his hands eagerly rubbing over each other.
"Sure, we know it. And you best get home too; it's pretty dangerous." The man grumbled again, which Natsu began to understand it was because his voice was so deep.
"I hope it doesn't come over here; don't want no beast destroying Magnolia." Whimpered the taller man, shoving his hands into the pockets of his baggy jeans.
"There's some blonde wizard fighting it! She's winning too! She's got all these awesome light moves!" The child exclaimed, almost ready to burst. A pang shot through the dragon slayer's heart. Dark eyes narrows and ears sharpened, immersing himself in their conversation.
"Don't lie to me kid; only an idiot would go fight that thing." The heavy man growled, obviously feeling irritated by the bitter expression on his face.
"No, I'm being serious!" The kid protested desperately. "She was wearing this white cloak with a golden dragon on the back and she had the Fairy Tail mark on her hand. I'm sure of it."
"Well, if it's one of those Fairy Tail mages, then I suppose they are stupid enough to go for it." The man revised, letting out a deep thunderous laugh. A slightly relieved expression fell over the kid's face, happy to share what he seen with someone who believed it, but still holding a little more hope for the conversation.
Happy looked onwards, his dark eyes becoming suspicious and curious until he finally turned them to the dragon slayer. "Hey Natsu, who do you think it is fighting that beast?" But as it turned out, the cat was talking to thin air; Natsu was gone. Blue feet turned on his path just in time to see a pink blur disappearing into the thick woods in the distance. "NATSU!" Happy cried in surprise. White wings bloomed from his back, picking his body up into the air. Just as he was about to leave, a familiar voice called out from behind him.
"Happy?" It called. The blue feline stopped what he was doing to seek out the voice. Rounding the big hiding tree, was a red haired equip mage and dark-haired ice wizard. "Happy, what are you doing?" Gray asked with a raised suspicious eye brow.
"Erza! Gray!" Happy wailed in despair. Gray quickly dodged, allowing the cat to fly into the hard steel breast plates of Erza's armour.
"Ouch..." The cat whimpered, hearing the echoing ring of metal resounding in his ears. Dark stern eyes landed on the small feline, held together between the two gauntlets around Erza's hands.
"What is it?" Erza asked, turning her face down onto the cat. Big droplets of water swelled in his eyes and his bottom lips quivered.
"Natsu ran off!" Happy sobbed, trying to wipe away the tears racing down his damp blue cheeks with his little paws.
"That's not so out of the ordinary Happy." Gray stated, folding his arms over his chest with a very uninterested gaze.
"But he went to this place where there is this beast that this lady is fighting!" Happy exclaimed desperately trying to convince the pair that it was a major issue.
"Look, Happy," Gray began, but was interrupted by a small voice.
"Did you day your friend went to go see the woman and the beast? The small boy intervened, appearing from behind a tree. Gray gave the kid a sharp glance, making the boy unsure he should speak. He was relieved when Erza turned towards him.
"Yes, why?" Erza asked, crouching down to the kids height. Dark eyes looked straight into the boy's pale blue ones, suddenly shy with a red blush on his cheeks. He began to fiddle with his hands, moving his thumbs over each other. His long black bangs fell over his eyes, staring at his hands with half-hearted concentration.
"The beast isn't actually a beast." The boy said softly, glancing up for a second to see the confusion on their faces. Gray lowered himself also to the kids height, and Happy pushed in between the two mages. All three looked at the boy curiously, feeling a slight rise of anxiety in the older mage's chests.
"Then what is it?" Gray asked slowly, curious but also seeming to feel a sense of dread at the answer.
"It's a...dragon." the boy muttered, looking back down at his hands. When he looked up again, he saw the dead silence on the mage's face. At that moment, the boy realised they believed him. He had called it a beast at first because no one would believe him if he went around spouting about dragons that were said to only be legends. Suddenly, the boy couldn't hold it in any longer. "It's a great big dragon, with dark scales and blue swirly patterns on its wings. It had a silver underbelly. It's a real dragon! I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes!" The boy exclaimed, throwing big wide gestured with his arms.
The arms came to a slow stop as his blue eyes reached the mages faces again. At his second glance, the boy could tell that it wasn't just surprise on their faces as he expected. It was also fear.
The dark-haired mage launched to his feet staggering back a step in shock. "No... It can't be!" Gray stuttered, pacing back and forth in a panicked circle. "It can't be here!" He shouted, turning back to Erza in frustration.
"Acnologia..." Erza uttered in response, still crouched in her position, finding herself too shocked to move. Horrible images came back to her mind of their last encounter, pounding fear through her heart again, just as if it had happened only yesterday. It was the same for Gray, desperately trying to make sense in his mind running around in chaos.
"What about Natsu?" Happy cried, black eyes darting back to the direction he last saw the slayer running.
"Don't worry!" The kid intervened, panicked by their reactions. He hadn't wanted to scare them, he just wanted someone to believe him. Even the little boy was caught by the fear in the atmosphere. "That woman in the white cloak with the gold hair is fighting it with some kind of light magic. It's okay, she's from a really strong guild; Fairy Tail!" The kid tried to reassure them, unaware of the extra surprise he was dealing instead. "I heard they beat up monsters all the time!"
The whole group froze. Gray stopped pacing, slowly turning around to the group. Erza stiffly stood, exchanging a glance with Gray. Although that glance said more than what could be in a millisecond, Happy brought it all out in words. "But the only person with blonde hair in the guild is...Lucy?"
"It can't be..." Gray uttered, looking to Erza for some kind of answer. But even the most experienced wizard didn't know what to say. Her dark eyes glanced to the space where Happy had pointed to Natsu leaving...slowly trying to piece it together.
If Natsu had heard rumours of Acnologia, there was no way he wouldn't go. But if the rumour about a blonde Fairy Tail mage was overheard as well... Erza's mind suddenly kicked into drive, forced to break out of its shell of shock. If Natsu wasn't going to Acnologia, they had to stop him.
"We've got to catch up with Natsu!" Erza commanded. "Happy, go inform Master of what has happened. Gray, come with me." Erza and Gray both darted into the forest in the direction Natsu had left in, leaving the blue cat to fly in the opposite direction at maximum speed.
Happy burst through the doors of the guild, his wings disappearing as he crashed into the floor. Gasps of surprise moved like a wave through the guild as a white haired mage came racing through the startled mages. "Happy!" She exclaimed, scooping him up into her arms. Black, half-shut eyes turned up to the white haired girl with panted breaths of exhaustion. All his magic and energy were almost completely gone, he had never moved so fast in his life. "Are you okay?" Mira asked, her concerned eyes searching his tired face.
"Natsu...help Natsu..." The feline wheezed.
The group of mages separated as the ginger haired mage came barging through. He dropped to his knee besides the white haired girl and cat, catching the feline's eyes. "What happened?" Gildarts asked in haste, noticing the faint traces of fear and worry in the cat's eyes.
Despite the exhaustion pinning the cat down, he pushed himself to sit in the girl's arms, using the rest of his energy to speek. Dark eyes caught onto the strong mage's own, staring at him whole seriousness. "He went after Ancnologia." Happy spoke bluntly, sending even more shock and pain through the guild members hearts and minds. "Erza and Gray went after him to the South end of the forest. We were tld there was a woman with blonde hair fighting Acnologia...they said she was from Fairy Tail" With the message passed on in as much detail he had time for, the cat slumped back into the girl's arms panting heavily, trying to recover from his exhaustion.
Gildarts rose to his feet immediately after the cat finished, heading towards the open guild doors without hesitation.
Just before he could take one step beyond the boundaries, an old, sharp voice stopped him. Gildarts froze in his place, turning his head over his shoulder to the source of the voice. Makarov stood on the second floor balcony with sharp commanding gaze down on the ginger haired man.
"Gildarts stay here!" Makarov commanded. "Everyone else go after Natsu. Go!" His voice sent rippling booms across the mage's immediately discarding their shock or concerns about the information. All the guild members rushed straight out the door with Happy telling them where to go.
In less than ten seconds, it was only Makarov and Gildarts left in the guild. The ginger haired mage looked up at the man with confused eyes, still stood in the doorway. The elder mage leapt from the balcony, landing on the first floor with graceful steps. He turned without a word and headed to the back doors. "Gildarts, come with me." He said, disappearing out the back door.
Gildarts immediately knew what he was referring to, and could guess his thinking. Without any words of defiance, the man turned from the open doorway and followed after his master.
Makarov and Gildarts appeared from out of the foliage, passing the broken trees left from the week's earlier experiment. They immediately stopped in surprise when they saw Freed standing outside of the cabin's door. They thought he would have left with the rest of the guild, but then it occurred to Gildarts that he hadn't seen the script mage since almost an hour before Happy had arrived. His face was with concern, and although Gildarts had a dreading idea what it was, he asked anyway. "What is it, Freed?"
"The barrier..." Freed said, looking down at the thin white line where the barrier once was. The barrier that was once unnoticeable before, was left with a single white line singed into the ground. It looked as if it had been burnt, but instead of it being black scorch marks, they were white. "It's broken."
"It was broken?" The eldest mage asked in surprise, examining the white line. Although his voice was surprised, their was stern edge to it, making the ginger-haired mage wonder how surprised he actually was.
"It isn't that fact that it was broken that concerns me, it was how it was broken." Freed stated, looking even more perplexed at the ground. There wasn't many things that puzzled the green-haired man, but when he did look confused, it gave everyone else more reason to worry.
"What do you mean, Freed?" Gildarts asked, despite the gnawing feeling at the back of his mind. Looking down at the ground made him know something was definitely up, piecing together who was in the cabin and the familiar mention of characteristics to that certain someone from happy earlier.
"It was broken from the inside." Freed said, not that it was much of a surprise to the other mages. Rather than shock, their concern simply deepened with dread and confusion. "The only way that could have ben done was from whatever or whoever you were hiding in there." Despite the dread, Gildarts moved passed the green-haired wizard, barging straight into the cabin. But just as he suspected, it was empty; Lucy was gone. Gildarts looked over his shoulder from the doorway towards Makarov and slowly shook his head. Makarov knew exactly what he meant.
Freed looked between the two and looked back at the cabin. "Who was in there?" Freed asked in a low, serious tone. Makarov subtly noticed the change from his earlier question; he had disregarded the what. Then again, it wasn't like Freed to be stupid, he knew something was up and could interpret well enough.
Makarov hung his head and sighed, raking a hand down over his white moustache. Old dark eyes looked back up to the younger mage. "Lucy." He said.
Out of everything they could have said, that was the most shocking thing of all. He knew whatever they were doing was suspicious, especially so soon after the girl had supposedly died. But That seriousness of which they had asked of him, only made him think it was a serious matter, that couldn't wait while the guild was grieving. now Freed could see that it was all a lie.
"But-" Freed stuttered, still in surprise. He was there at the time. No matter what had happened, everyone had seen Lucy die.
"She was in a comatose state." Gildarts explained bluntly, shutting the open cabin door behind him. "Although, it seems she's woken up."
"But who ever broke this had an extremely strong power! It could even rival your own in terms of potential, Gildarts."Freed exclaimed. "You can't expect me to believe a mere celestial wizard did this?"
"Any power can potentially rival my own, Freed; Even a celestial wizard." Gildarts responded like he usually would. But something about his tone showed the doubt in his words. It may have been true about what he said, but even he knew Lucy wasn't that strong yet.
Makarov looked concerning between the two men. Cogs moved in the back of his mind, making him all suspicious of what had happened or soon to happen. With Happy's information and their own discoveries, he could only worry.
"Celestial magic, huh?" Makarov grumbled. Gildarts looked towards him, showing a face that he didn't quite catch what he said. Before he could ask, the Fairy Tail Master turned towards the south. "We need to catch up with the others. Let's hurry!" Makarov commanded, making the other two mages dart behind him as they ran straight to the south.
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-A-ccentric