A/N: Wow! This chapter and the next chapter are action pack! Lots of brutal fight scenes this chapter and the next, so beware of the blood and violence. Don't worry the last two parts of this fic will have some fluffy gajevy-ness, but for now, let's bring on the traditional Dragon Age Blood Gore!


Part Seven: No Saving

"What is going on?" Gajeel grabbed Juvia's arm, startling the enchantress. Her hand immediately went to her small dagger strapped to her thigh, but she eased her grip when she saw it was Gajeel and then Levy at his heel. Water weighed down his long locks and his fringe clung to his sharpen cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something, however an explosion from Natsu erupted across the deck.

"Natsu," Levy clenched her jaw. "Not again...you're lucky Erza isn't here." She watched her friend swinging his flaming sword at his two opponents. The Rogue and wind Mage easily dodged his attacks. In normal circumstances, the wind Mage would be the first to go as his abilities would've enhanced Natsu's fire enchanted sword. However, the rain and his nonsensical fighting habits are making it easy for them to read his attacks. They were very careful not to make Natsu bleed as he too was a Reaver. The more he bleeds the powerful he would become. The more he gets hit, the more power he absorbs. And Natsu was faced with enemies who were simply taunting and avoiding his attacks.

"Sol and Aria were talking about a bounty they turned in a few weeks ago." Juvia explained. "Something about Igneel and the Dragon Hunter's head worth more than the Hero of Orlais.

"They were trained to fight a reaver." Levy muttered, glancing up at Gajeel. Jose already had an arsenal to counter Gajeel, and who knew how many more he had up his sleeve. "Gajeel, help me up."

She drew her bow and nodded her head upward to the ropes. Without another word, Gajeel unsheathed his great axe and Levy hopped on. With great force, he swung her and Levy jumped at the right momentum where she grabbed the rope and spun around to bring herself balancing along it. She ran towards the wooden rungs and immediately pointed her arrow at Natsu's enemies, but as she did so, the dual wielding rogue vanished.

Natsu frantically looked around for him, gritting his teeth and flaring his nose with anger. He was too pre-occupied by his disappearing act, he forgot about the mage as Aria made an attack by enchanting a stun spell on Natsu, blurring his vision and deafening him with an air canon spell. Levy reached for a bottle in her pouch and stuck it to the tip of her bow. She aimed the shining red liquid towards their feet, feeling the familiar tension in her bow, and released it. The bottle shattered and a pool of fire spread where the oil escaped on the deck. Aria leapt back, giving Natsu room. Natsu stumbled to regain his vision once the flurries of flames surround him briefly. Fire did not burn him and a sinister smile curled on his face.

Levy set another flaming tonic at her arrow and aimed once again. This time she wasn't aiming for Aria. She waited, hands steady at the tension and kept her eyes open around Natsu. The fire still burned at his feet and it slowly faded away into the rain. His broadsword was the only thing keeping the fire around him alive until the oil burned out. The pattern of the rain, the wind moving the flames, and the shift of the ship against waves, Levy studied Natsu carefully. And just as planned, Levy saw an irregular pattern and released her arrow.

It happened in a blink of an eye as her arrow hit the thick leather armor of the rogue, tarnishing and revealing his invisibility in a raging oily flaming man. Natsu raised his sword and cut him down, however, Sol didn't go down without taking one of his daggers and lurched forward to stab Natsu between the soft spot of his armor just beneath his underarm. Natsu roared and Levy's eyes widen when Sol twisted the serrated dagger and she immediately readied another arrow, aiming at Sol's leg, but Lily and Gajeel came into her view and pushed back Sol and Aria. Sol left on the deck dead and slowly burning and Aria on defense.

They were fine for now.

Levy blinked to her surroundings. She needed to see where they were at and decided to swiftly move up the main mast towards the crow's nest. She'd pause and look down to see the battle commence beneath her. From the looks of it, Gajeel and the other's cover was blown and the crew begun to retaliate them. She had to leave it to them. The signal was important regardless if their cover was compromised. With all the ruckus, Levy was surprised that Captain Ivan and her team didn't hear them. If the fight takes longer than planned, the Captain might need to step in.

The was the last thing she wanted, remembering exactly what Master Makarov told them about Ivan.

"Hey!" Levy paused from her slippery trek to find three slender elves chase after her from several feet below. They moved effortlessly over and under ropes and sails towards her, clearly having better sea legs than she. "Come back here!" One of them shouted and Levy continued moving, but more hastily. Her wide brown eyes looked over at the horizon. Mountains cloaked in overcast clouds and greenish gray hills and cliffs greeted them from beyond. They were close, though she couldn't see the ship with their guild emblem, but they were there.

"Ah!" Levy screamed, tightly grabbing on to one of many ropes around them with one hand and the other unsheathed the dagger from her lower back. The rope tugged around the pillar, swinging her back around, and she pushed off a neighboring mast to gain momentum to strike back at her attacker, kicking him across the jaw and sending him barreling down to the deck. "Maker guide him to your side." She prayed and focused back to the two other pointy eared mercenaries before wielding daggers of their own.

"What do we have here?" One of them snickered, having a brutal scar running down his right temple to his lips. "Yer the one Black Steel roughed up before we sailed." He snickered and eyed the dagger in her hands. "So, you are one of his, huh?" His jeweled green eyes hungrily gazed at her body and paused at the Fairy Tail symbol on her leather carapace, located below her left breast. "And it would seem that Gajeel is workin' with Fairy scum." His smile went wide. "Jose would want to hear about this."

"You have to go through me first." Levy grabbed the other dagger on her hip and drew it, wicking away the rain in its way. "Let's dance." She drew the dagger to the collar of her cloak and cut the metal clasp from the dark cloth. The heaviness of the drenched cloth slumped down, but she didn't dare peel her eyes from the men in front of her. Even though her eyes were staring at them, Levy needed to send out the signal, and she couldn't do it with them at her tail. And she needed to be closer to the crow's nest in order to do so. "Wait a little longer, Luce." Levy murmured to herself. "And be careful…Gajeel."


Boom!

Gray and Lucy looked at each other when they heard the fifth explosion rumbling from outside their door. They both knew who was making the racket and Lucy mentally cursed at the hotheadedness of Natsu, though concern for his and Levy's safety was at the top of her heart's list. As for Gray, he wondered what set Natsu off and the fact that Levy hadn't given out the signal probably had something to do with it. It worried him too, knowing that they were working with members of Phantom Lord.

They both didn't know when to act if Levy wasn't able to give the signal.

"What are they doing?" Ivan spoke in Tevene for only Lucy understood him perfectly. He was beside his desk, looking through a massive book and some magical trinkets. They looked like little stuffed paper dolls, sown together by a thick string made of twined hair. In the eyes of non-magical folk, they would only see a simple dark rope, however, mages and especially necromancers could see the rope was laced with the hair of the deceased, buried in a magically enchanted necropolis or catacombs. The keys in her pack felt heavy and she could sense their panic as the dark magic of Ivan smothered her own.

"Hm," Ivan rose from his seat and marched slowly towards them, still knelt a couple feet from his desk. "Do you have friends on the ship?" He asked them in native tongue. His attention was more drawn towards Gray. "Did you bring more rogue templars on my ship?" His ringed finger grabbed his chin roughly and forced him to look at him. Lucy's eyes widen, the sound in her throat lost in the heavy air.

She couldn't breathe.

Gray couldn't either.

The room went dark, darker than before. Lucy fought against her restraints and the darkness creeping out of Ivan. Blood magic. The stuffed paper dolls on the desk weren't souls safely sealed in a necropolis. As the darkness settled in, the brighter the dolls glowed an eerie red. They were demons summoned and sealed away by his own blood. Cold settled into their skin, feeling the pull of their souls draining from their bodies. He was draining them from their magic and strength, but Lucy needed to fight back. If only she could get a hand of her keys.

Gray slumped beside her, his body only being held up by Ivan's hand. Lucy tried to look at Gray, but the pressure of the room was making it harder and harder for her to move. At this rate, they'd fail the mission. Fail the Master and fail the guild…Levy and…

"Natsu," Lucy rasped as her consciousness was fading. If this was it, who'd tell Happy the Dwarf about their demise? Who'd look for his father? It was all her fault for dragging him into this mess. "No…" Lucy fought the darkness in her mind and struggled against her metal cuffs. She was assigned the mission for a reason and she needed to fix it. "I'll save everyone…" She gritted her pearly teeth and strained her skin and bones from her hand and tried slipping it through the cuff. Just one hand. It was all she needed. One hand.

Suddenly, the world went white.

Pure white light ruptured the entire ship like lightning. Lucy's vision returned and the true colors of Ivan's office shown itself in dark mahogany woods. It blinded Ivan and the dark magic the loomed in the office disappeared, leaving its master defenseless for only a moment.

"Levy," Lucy smiled and Gray staggered back, looking at her with confusion. "She did it." Without anymore hesitation, Lucy staggered to her feet, hands still tied behind her back and turned her back to Gray. "My blue gem, Gray." The lyrium gem glowing a bright blue dangled from her bracelet in front of his face and he bent forward to take it in his mouth. Lucy winced as he pulled the gem with his teeth, straining the gold chain against her skin. Gray bit down and munched on the hard potion. Lucy noticed Ivan regaining his composure and decided to kick him back down.

"Lucy Kick!" She shouted, kicking Ivan between his legs. He fell back down, muttering something in Tevene and lastly a spell. "Oh no!"

"Not today, you fucker!" Gray's eyes glowed an icy blue, veins popping out of his skin. His arms pulled away and against the chains and with another brute tug, the cuffs came apart. Ivan's eyes widen at the rush of air waving through him. All his magical energy was blocked with his Templar ability to cleanse magic in a limited area, though that would mean Lucy would be impaired as well.

"Leo! NOW!" Lucy shouted and suddenly a figure came out of the corner of the room and grabbed Ivan by the throat. "Taurus!" She shouted again and a light of blue came rushing out of Lucy breaking down the door and Leo pushed the captain through it. The man named Leo wasn't a man, but a silhouette of one in a form of a yellow light, like an illuminated ghost. They couldn't summon themselves out without the purifying light from the signal, and thanks to Levy they could.

"It can't be!" Ivan sloshed on the deck, dry clothes instantly soaking through to his skin. "A necromancer!" Gray unlocked Lucy's metal restraints and they stepped on to the rainy deck. Ivan eyed the two golden keys glowing between her fingers. A rare magic where no blood magic or illegal bindings involved. A family contract between spirits and man. "A treasure…" Lucy looked up at the mast and there were the remnants of the signal, white light hazing above the ship like a glowing cloud. An elf came in swinging on a rope as she dodged the attacks and blocked with her daggers, trying to get away.

"Levy!" She shouted, eyes following her move from mast to mast until she disappeared behind fluttering sails.

Boom!

Lucy peeled her eyes away from above her to Ivan and then Natsu. Her heart sank when she saw his usual smiling eyes turn monstrous black, bulging out of his skull as his bloodied fists punched a mercs head into the wooden deck. He was no longer moving and Natsu was just destroying him.

"Natsu!" She shouted and the he froze, stopping his fist half way towards the mercs face. His eyes went to her and the darkness remained. It was when she saw Natsu's bloody wound.

"Look out!" Juvia came in between Ivan and Lucy, holding out a shield made out of the falling rain. "Keep your guard up." She handed them their weapons and looked at Gray. Lucy grabbed her staff and pointed it at Ivan, but an arrow from above exploded between his feet, releasing a knockout gas. Ivan rolled to his side and Gajeel came in beside him and picked him up by the collar. He dragged his body towards them, Juvia stuffing his mouth with an elixir drenched cloth, reeking of rashvine and deep mushroom, and Gajeel threw him back into his office like a ragdoll.

"Are you okay?" Juvia asked Gray. Lucy turned to him and noticed him panting and face pale. The lyrium already gone from his system, it had been months since he took it, and after having a safe dose, it would seem his addiction was returning. His eyes wanted more.

"Fine," Gray panted.

"You need to take lyrium." Lucy pulled another gem from her bracelet.

"No!" Gray bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. "I'm fine!" He held up his shield, but then staggered backwards. Lucy took a step forward to grab him, but Juvia already beat her to it.

"Here," Juvia placed a hand on his forehead and it glowed against the clamminess of his skin. "It's only temporary." The color returned to his face.

"There's a change of plans." Gajeel told Lucy. "Yer not the only ones who are after Ivan."

"The Merchant Guild Master Jose is after the Captain's bounty and yours." Juvia explained. "They are not only fighting Ivan, but they are also trying to overturn us too."

"How—?" Lucy shook her head and then looked at Natsu still fighting.

"No time," Gajeel said to her. "We have to deal with these fuckers before anything. We still have Ivan's three men." She looked around and didn't see Flare anywhere on deck.

Then suddenly…

"Holy shit!" Gray screamed when a dagger impaled the floor in front of him. The amber hilt gleamed and Lucy looked up and saw Levy leaping from a wooden rung, but someone stopped her and brought her crashing down with them into the stern of ship.

"Levy!" Lucy shouted at the top of her lungs. Her eyes darted to Natsu and then where Levy crashed, wanting to aid both, but didn't know which one to help.

With a flash, Levy's dagger was gone and so was Gajeel.


Levy winced from the debris. An iron canon rolled across the sub-raised deck, turning the pieces of wood from broken barrels, sandbags and the canon mounting into tinier pieces. Her bow dug into her back along with her quiver. She ran her fingers on its body, making sure it was still in one piece. Beside her foot was one of her daggers and she quickly grabbed it, eyes frantically looking for the other. It was possible for it to fall overboard since she landed just at the edge of the painted railing.

"Got you!" The last elf mercenary she had to face. Now their battle resumed on deck, though her confidence waned when four—five others joined him, approaching her from the stairs with their weapons drawn. Some of them had acid burns from her attacks. After the signal, Levy had to flee from her enemies, but she still assisted Gajeel and the others on the deck by throwing plethora of tonics and poisons, rendering them while they took care of them.

Levy staggered to her feet, feeling the numbing pain in her side and shooting down her thigh. Something was sprained, though not broken as she could still walk. Her one dagger in her hand, pointed at her opponents and her jeweled amber eyes scanned them, looking for any irregularities in their movements or appearance.

A scar on one man's elbow. A wooden peg leg on another. Heavily armed man with two broadswords, a woman with a rapier…different weapons. Could she fend them off with just one dagger? Jet and Droy weren't there to help her and she didn't like it when she was swarmed like this. Plus with the pain in her body and the unsteadiness of her footing, she might not be able to run away so easily. She was too far from anyone to notice her predicament.

"Though darkness closes," Levy gulped. "I am shielded by flame." The prayer fell husky in her tired voice, fear settling in. "Andraste, guide me…take me to your side…" They were coming closer. The prayer steadied her hand. "Preserve me in thy light as I am the beacon of your will…"

The woman leapt forward with her rapier, stabbing towards her chest. Levy blocked, metal crashing against metal. Her back hit the railing and her free hand wrapped around the thick braided rope. She struggled to lift herself off the deck, but she managed to get a good footing on the railing, taking the high ground. Levy peered into their dark eyes, waiting for the first to attack. And without any hesitation, the largest man with the wooden leg yelled a ferocious war cry and charged at her. Levy tried to move away, though her footing slipped and the man grabbed her wet blue hair.

"Ahh!" Levy screamed in pain. The pain in her body went straight to her head, feeling the numbing throb in her scalp. She struggled against him, but every time she moved a muscle, a wave of excruciating pain went up and down her spine.

"I'm gonna skin you alive for what you did to me face!" He spat. Levy couldn't see him. Her own vision was fading in and out of consciousness. "Starting with yer knife ears!" Levy shut her eyes, clenching her jaw as she felt the dull blade touched the shell of her pointed ear.

A whimper left her throat and she prayed once again…she wanted them to knock her out, so she wouldn't feel the pain, though she needed to endure.

"What the—ack?" The woman merc blurted out briefly before she was silenced. Bodies begun to drop including her own. Her fuzzy mind tried to wrap around what was going on. Fingers desperately trying to find her dagger on the slick deck, and her head throbbed, burning follicles so tender, she could feel each strand of her hair pulling on her scalp.

"You traitor!" The pegged man who had her by the scalp hissed at him and Levy finally looked up to see the bare muscle back standing between him and her. "All that Phantom Lord did for you, this is what you give us in return? Fucking a Fairy Tail whore!" Gajeel's hair clung to his back and the water moved through it like a dark waterfall. "Master Jose was right. You fucking fallen from your orders, you fucking bastard!"

"Gajeel," Levy murmured, and Gajeel looked back with stern eyes. The iron rivets on his nose and brow didn't repel much water, but the droplets moved around them with ease.

"I. Am. Phantom Lord." Gajeel returned his glare at the man, clenching his fist tighter around his neck. Levy's heart sank painfully in her chest hearing those words in the thundering rain. "Without me, y'blighters are nothing!" He brought him closer to his face, feet dangling in the air as he lifted him. "Phantom Lord dies today." The last thing the man heard before Gajeel suffocated him. Levy pulled her eyes away and watched as the wooden peg, soaked to the core, shook along with the other leg. It fought for air and for freedom, but Gajeel was far stronger. Levy shook in fear, watching as the peg leg moved for the last time.

"Gajeel," Levy gulped her throat dry.

"Shorty like you is hard to keep up with," Gajeel turned around and knelt down beside her. Levy flinched, but relaxed when he handed her pair of daggers with a smoldering smirk. "Can't protect ya if yer keep running around like that." She set a hand on the amber handle, and her eyes locked to his. "So, don't leave my side."