A/N: Finally updating! Sorry for the wait, hope it's worth it :)

Lucy gasped as the man who was hovering over the Cait Shelter guild hall on a giant serpent emerged from behind the trees. Lucy's hand itched toward her keys, if she could distract him long enough Wendy could get away.

"How noble of you." he chuckled.

Lucy froze and stared at him. "What?"

"Sacrificing yourself for the half-dragon, how sickeningly noble of you." he scoffed, "That's what I hate about you do-gooders. Makes me sick."

Lucy grabbed Sagittarius's key and let her magic flow into it. "Open! Gate of the Archer: Sagittarius!"

A bell chimed and the horse archer spirit appeared dressed in his usual (and questionable) horse costume. He saluted Lucy and held his bow.

"Howdy do my lady. How can I be of service?" he asked.

Lucy pointed at the man. "Take him out Sagittarius!"

Sagittarius aimed his bow at the Oracion wizard and fired a storm of arrows. However the man was able to dodge all the arrows except for one. The last one he caught with his bare hand and it dissolved in a dangerous looking pink-red mist. He chuckled evilly and discarded the arrow.

"A good effort, but I could hear it all coming." he smirked, "I never got to introduce myself. I'm Cobra, the half-dragon of the Oracion Seis."

Lucy's eyes widened. "H-Half-dragon?"

Cobra chuckled and strolled closer to Lucy until he was about 4 feet from her.

Lucy's mind was reeling. This makes no sense. If the Oracion already have a half-dragon then why do they need Natsu and Wendy?

"I can hear what you're thinking." Cobra laughed, "I'm not exactly an average half-dragon. You're friends are what would be considered 'natural half-dragons', I'm what would be considered an 'artificial half-dragon'." he smirked toothily, "I don't get my power from my genetics. I got it from the half-dragon I killed."

Lucy and Wendy gasped. Both girls were mortified. Was it possible to become a half-dragon by killing another?

"Of course. That is if you contain their power in a lacrama before it dissipates." Cobra smirked.

Lucy's shock subsided and her horrified expression settled into a determined scowl. "You're a horrible person."

The fake half-dragon laughed heartily, "'Course I am. I wouldn't be a dark mage if I wasn't. Give us the kid and I'll let you live."

Wendy was trembling in fright, her brown eyes were widened to the size of saucers in horror. Lucy knew that expression all too well. Her father...wait, she needs to stop thinking. Cobra can hear her thoughts.

"You're actually smart blondie. Too bad you figured it out before you finished your thought. I would have liked something to use against you."

"There's just one thing I don't understand. If you're a half-dragon like Natsu and Wendy, then what the heck does the Oracion want half-dragons for!?" Lucy demanded.

Cobra chuckled again, "I can't reveal our whole plan to you even if in a few minutes you're gonna be dead. If you aren't going to hand over the kid then I have no use for you."

He inhaled deeply. Lucy's eyes widened realizing what he's doing. Quickly she severed her connection with Sagittarius and grabbed Wendy's hand and pulled her down into the bushes.

"He's going to use a breath attack!?" Wendy exclaimed.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!"

Lucy pulled Wendy close to her and barrel rolled out of the way just as a funnel of sickly red-magenta mist reduced the spot where the two girls previously were into a sticky puddle. Lucy's eyes widened in horror. How was she going to beat this guy and keep Wendy safe at the same time? Fake or not, Cobra was a half-dragon and after seeing what Natsu could do she knew for a solid fact that a half-dragon's power is no joke.

Lucy pulled Wendy up and pushed her into the forest. "Wendy, find Natsu!"

"Lucy-chan! I can't leave you to face him alone! You're only in danger because of me!"

"Wendy, I'm a mage. Trouble comes with the territory. Cobra is after you, I'll stale him!"

Cobra at that moment exploded through the trees and made a grab for Wendy. Lucy grabbed her whip and lashed it around Cobra's ankle and threw him into the ground faster then she thought she could.

"RUN WENDY!" she ordered.

With tears in her eyes, the little blue-haired girl disappeared into the forest just as Cobra was getting up. He swore and tried to run, but Lucy's whip was still curled around his ankle and he immediately tripped and face-planted into the dirt again. Lucy bit back a laugh. Cobra growled in annoyance and reached for the whip tied around his ankle. Without thinking, Lucy summoned every bit of strength she could muster and started spinning Cobra like a hammer-throw. If her theory was correct, even a fake half-dragon should get motion sickness like Natsu did apparently.

Unfortunately, Cobra managed to get saved by his flying serpent, who pulled him straight out of the grasp of the whip and hoisted him onto its head. Cobra looked like he wanted to brutally murder Lucy for what she did, but she didn't have any time to feel scared for herself when she was slammed in the back by a heavy boot. With a shout of surprise and pain Lucy crashed into the ground and was pinned under the weight of Racer's boot. The speedy man glared down at the Celestial Mage and gritted his boot into the small of her back. Lucy tried to force him off of her but she just wasn't strong enough.

"You're pathetic Cobra. Can't even catch a little girl?" Race rasped.

Cobra scoffed, "Blonde kept getting in the way."

"Still, you should be able to handle a single girl." a snide female voice mocked.

"Shut up Angel."

Angel. They mentioned her before, they said she was also a Celestial Spirit mage too. Lucy continued to struggle under Racer's boot until Cobra took a turn and kicked her in the face. Lucy coughed up a clump of blood and growled.

"Tell us where the Fire Dragon is." Cobra ordered.

"Or what...? You'll kill me?" Lucy choked.

Cobra kneeled down to her level, his hand swirling with his poison mist. Lucy fought down her pure terror as his hand approached her face, but it stopped literally 10 centimeters from the tip of her nose.

"No. I'll torture you until you tell us or you die. Either way, if you don't tell us where he is, your screams of pain will certainly attract him."

Lucy reached for her keys and pulled out Cancer's.

"Open! Gate of the Crab: Cancer!"

Cancer appeared in a flash of bright gold light accompanied by the chime of an old door bell. The spirit didn't even ask what she needed and batted the imposing dark mages far enough away for her to regain her footing.

"Thanks Cancer." she said, lowering her heart rate and brandishing her whip, "I can take it from here."

The spirit nodded and vanished. When Cancer was gone, Angel laughed.

"You must be suicidal if you think you can take on half of the Oracion Seis on your own without your spirits!" she laughed.

"It'll do you good to not underestimate me." Lucy scowled.

Angel finally recomposed herself and waved off the boys. "Go find the twerps. I'll handle little Ms. Cocky."

They nodded and they both retreated from the imposing fight. Lucy started to go after them.

"Oh no you don't!" she shouted.

A flash of light grabbed her attention and Lucy ducked just in time to avoid a potentially deadly blast of sand. Lucy looked up from the ground to see another man standing next to Angel, who had a Zodiac sign on his outfit.

Lucy gasped. "Scorpio!? You have Golden Zodiac Keys?"

Angel laughed evilly, "Do you still think you can take me on without your spirits?"

Scorpio blasted at Lucy again, she leapt up into the air just barely vaulting the attack. Her landing was less then graceful, but she made it out relatively unscathed except for the few scratches from the stray grain of sand.

"I know I can. Unlike you, I'm not going to hide behind my spirits! Celestial Spirits are living people like us! THEY ARE NOT SHIELDS!"

"You must be suicidal to think that." Angel said, ordering Scorpio to attack again, "And you're wrong about Celestial Spirits. They don't feel anything, they're exactly as their name states. They're spirits. Unfeeling, non-animate, spirits."

Lucy noted Scorpio wincing at the comment as she dodged. Her anger towards the enemy mage grew.

"No. You're wrong! Celestial Spirits may not be exactly human, but they can still feel pain, anger, sadness, happiness, and love. Just like us." Lucy lashed at Angel with her whip, "It makes no difference to me that they're spirits!"

Lucy's whip wrapped around Angel's arm. The arm that had Scorpio's key in its hand. Lucy pulled hard and Angel dropped the key to the grass. While Angel was distracted by this Lucy charged and kicked her in the face. The kick broke Angel's concentration and Scorpio disappeared back to the Celestial World. Angel growled and drew another Gold Key.

"Not bad, but let's see how you fair against this! Open! Gate of the Ram: Aries!"

"I'm sorry! What can I do for you?" the ram spirit whimpered, clearly terrified of her master.

Angel pointed at Lucy, "Eliminate her Aries!"

"Wool Bomb!" Aries cast.

A tidal wave of pink wool rushed forth from Aries's small pale hands and directly at Lucy. Lucy dodged just by the skin of her teeth, only to have to dodge again. As she dodged, Lucy was racking her brain still thankful that the Poison half-dragon wasn't there to listen in on her thoughts. She'd heard of someone that possessed Aries's key, but who was it?

Lucy gasped and stumbled. Unfortunately she was struck by a wall of wool. However, it was more of a pushing attack that forced Lucy into a tree trunk then a deadly attack like Scorpio's and Lucy quickly recovered.

"Aries...wasn't she one of Karen's spirits?" Lucy asked. (A/N: My pen name isn't based off of this character ^-^)

Angel patted Aries's head roughly, "That's right. Of course, since I killed her, this is my spoils of war."

Lucy's heart dropped through the floor. This woman in front of her, brutally murdered Karen out of cold blood and didn't look the least bit remorseful. Lucy had heard that Karen wasn't the kindest of all key holders, but she must have been at least minimally better then Angel.

Angel took Lucy's surprise as an opportunity to attack. "Aries, attack!"

The ram spirit charged at Lucy and she forced a stream of wool at Lucy. She blocked it with her forearm and grasped Aries's oncoming attack and tore through it.

"I'm sorry! I have to obey my owner!" Aries apologized.

The battle was pretty evenly matched for a while. Lucy was proud of herself in being able to hold off the Zodiac Spirit for so long, but her stamina was beginning to wane. She knew she had to wrap this up before she ran out of strength. Suddenly there was another bright flash and a blast. A laser-like attack shot right through Aries's stomach and drilled through Lucy's left shoulder. Lucy cried in pain, dropped to one knee and coughed up a clot of blood. When she looked up, she saw Aries's pained expression as she dissolved back into the Celestial World in splotches of gold light.

"Aries!" Lucy shouted.

"I'm sorry!"

That was the last thing Aries said before disappearing completely, leaving Lucy staring shell-shocked at Angel, who was standing next to a chisel spirit. Tears of sadness and rage streamed from Lucy's eyes as she pieced together what had happened. Angel had summoned the chisel spirit. And ordered it to shoot Lucy through Aries.

Lucy's rage bubbled to the point of bursting.

"You dare call yourself a Celestial Spirit mage? How could you...HOW COULD YOU ATTACK YOUR OWN SPIRIT!?" Lucy screamed.

"What? She can't die." Angel shrugged.

"No. But she can feel pain. Didn't you see that expression on her face while she was disappearing? She was in pain! Pain that YOU caused!"

"I still hit my mark. Though a little off, with an injury like that you won't be able to fight."

Lucy scowled and stood up clutching her shoulder which was now bleeding profusely. The pain was unlike anything Lucy had ever felt before but she fought through it.

"I'm not giving up." Lucy growled, shocking Angel, "I will fight to my last breath if I have to! You're going to pay for what you did to Aries!"

Angel scoffed and pointed another key at Lucy. "It doesn't matter. I still have plenty of power left and you're running low. You're chances of winning are exactly zero."

Lucy growled and stood straighter.

"Still got some fight in you? Fine then. Let's see how well you fight against yourself. Open! Gate of the Twins: Gemini!"

In a puff of pink smoke a perfect replica of Lucy stood, but with a sly smirk on her face and without the injury to the shoulder. Lucy groaned inwardly. Just how many Zodiac keys does Angel have?

"Gemini, you know what to do." Angel ordered, "Destroy her!"

Gemini rushed Lucy and landed several blows before she could even process what was happening. This spirit was obviously going to be tougher then the other two. Unlike Scorpio and Aries, Gemini looked like they really wanted to hurt her.

Lucy crashed through the foliage and into a stream. The blood on her shoulder immediately washed off and swirled in the water around Lucy like a red mist. Gemini broke through the bushes followed by the chisel spirit and a smirking Angel who looked extremely pleased with how this battle was going. Lucy knew she would be better off summoning her spirits, but she immediately dismissed the thought. She needed to fight this battle without her spirits. Though, the idea of having Taurus's strength or Sagittarius's insane archery skills was a pleasant one.

Gemini continued beating Lucy around in the stream since the water was a hinderance to the wounded Celestial Mage. Finally, Lucy was laying battered and bruised in the shallow stream.

"Ha ha ha! I told you you couldn't win without your spirits!" Angel mocked, as Gemini kicked her again, "Now you're going to be killed by yourself! Don't you just feel pathetic?"

Gemini grasped the chisel spirit by the handle and raised it hight above their head.

"Any last words?" Angel asked, mockingly.

"Release Aries." Lucy growled.

"What?"

"She was treated horribly by her last owner-"

Lucy was cut off when Gemini sliced her good arm with the chisel spirit. The sharp pain wrenched a scream of pain from Lucy's throat.

"Is that any way to ask someone for a favor?" Angel chuckled.

Lucy gripped both her bleeding wounds. "Please...I'm begging you. She deserves to be happy. We Celestial Spirit mages are the only ones that can grant them that happiness."

"For nothing?"

"I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING APART FROM MY KEYS! JUST RELEASE ARIES!"

"You're life it is then." Angel smiled darkly, "Gemini, kill her."

Lucy screwed her eyes shut for the blow that would end her life. But it never came.

"Gemini?"

Lucy opened her eyes and looked at the Celestial Spirit ordered to kill her. They were shaking, their eyes blank as if remembering something.

"I can hear a beautiful voice...echoing inside my head..." Gemini said, tears welling in their eyes, "...I can't do it. Lucy loves us from the bottom of her heart. Us Celestial Spirits."

Lucy groaned painfully, "Gemini..."

"OUT OF MY SIGHT! USELESS TRASH!" Angel shouted, cutting her connection to Gemini.

Gemini disappeared with a shout of pain at how violently the connection had been severed. The chisel spirit splashed into the river where Angel picked it up.

"I don't need a spirit to finish you off!" she shouted, "I'll kill you myself!"

Lucy tried to stand up, but her strength had been spent. This was the end for her. She failed. Angel raised the chisel above her head and was about to bring it down...

...

...

...

...

...when she was attacked from behind.

"Ice-Make: Lance!"

The attack connected with Angel's back and she screamed in pain before fainting in the stream. Lucy gasped in surprise when she saw who was behind her. Gray had just saved her life. And he wasn't alone either. Erza was there too and a large group of other people she didn't recognize.

"Guys..." Lucy swallowed, "What are you doing here?"

Gray grinned at her, "We're here to help of course."

Happy flew up behind him and pumped a paw in the air. "Aye!"

Lucy laughed breathily in relief as she slipped into blood-loss induced darkness.

A/N: Bet you thought Natsu was going to be the one to come to the rescue didn't y'ah? Yeah, not yet. I included the team that was assembled to take out the Oracion Seis because let's be realistic. Natsu's a beast, but even he couldn't take out the whole Oracion Seis on his own even with Lucy and Wendy helping him out.

The way that Cobra became a half-dragon is honestly the only way I can think of that would make the most amount of sense considering that half-dragons get their power through genetics so killing them and trapping the power in a lacrama seems the most logical. After that it's standard procedure for 2nd generation Dragon Slayers, except it's half-dragons instead ^-^