**Quick author's note: Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to update but I broke my arm and was in a cast past my elbow and it was basically impossible to type. Fun fact: casts suck. I'm still in a sling but its significantly easier to type now so I really wanted to update. I'm not sure how you guys will feel about this chapter because I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter! Please let me know what you guys think in rates and reviews! :) End author's note**
"Who the hell are you?" An angry voice coaxed Raven out from the realm of unconsciousness. She groaned and turned her head to the opposite side, still half asleep. Her body was unwilling to get up just yet. "Hey, I'm talking to you! Come on, wake up." This time the voice was accompanied by a light kick on the bottom of her boot. She groaned again but this time her eyes fought their way open. The sky was dark overhead. What time is it? Her vision was blurry for a moment but it didn't take long for her to realize the silhouette of an individual leaning over her. Her body tried to kick into defense overdrive but she had hardly any magical energy left. "Good, you're awake. Now, who are you?"
Raven stared at the figure blankly for a moment before her eyes adjusted to light of the moon. Slowly she realized that if this person became hostile she would have no way to defend herself. Slowly, her fingers slid across the ground near her in the hopes that she would find a rock for defense should she need it. She struggled to force her vision to focus. With her free hand she pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed the corners of her eyes, thinking. Galuna Island… fighting… Ice-Make wizards… Shit! Understanding came back to her suddenly and then she recognized the pink haired boy leaning over her. "You're the Dragon Slayer." Her tiredness eased away somewhat with the realization that she had finally found the person she had been looking for, for the last several months.
"That's me!" The pink haired boy grinned and tried to point a thumb at his chest but misjudged and slammed his thumb into the large block of ice that was encasing his body. As if he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be serious, his expression changed from his grin back to his slight frown. "I asked who you were first." He sounded dejected that she had tricked him into revealing his identity when he was trying to acquire hers. He looked from her to Gray. "Did you do this to Gray?" He asked, accusingly.
Raven followed his gaze; Gray was still lying near her feet, unconscious and breathing shallowly. He twitched gently at the sound of his name but remained unconscious. She looked back at the Salamander. He was still encased in the ball of ice that Lyon had summoned around him before Gray had pushed him down the slope.
"Let me help," Raven said beginning a slow struggle to her feet. She had deliberately ignored his question while she determined exactly what she wanted to tell him here. Once on her feet, she stretched out an unsteady hand towards the ice shell that was limiting his movement.
"Whoa!" He jumped back clumsily. "I still don't know who you are." He pointed out after he was clearly out of arms reach.
"Fair enough," Raven shrugged. She thought a moment longer before continuing. "I'm Raven Wintersong. I wasn't the one that hurt your friend." She motioned slowly to Gray. She looked at him expectantly. He seemed to be lost in thought about something, glancing from her to Gray and back again. "If you'll let me, I'll remove that ice." She offered again.
He regarded her carefully before shrugging and moving closer. Raven placed both hands on the orb of ice. She let her magic flow through the ice. His ice is so unstable and weak. It's going to be easy to break. She released her magic all at once and the ice shattered with little to no effort on her part, leaving the Salamander unharmed.
"So, you must be an ice wizard too?" He asked her. She nodded and left it at that. "I don't know why you all use ice magic; fire is where it's at!" He grinned at her again. "Well, let's get going." He turned and started to walk away. Raven cleared her throat. When he turned back to look at her he noticed Gray. "Right," he walked back over to them.
"Do you have a name Dragon Slayer?" She asked him quietly as he leaned over Gray in much the same way he had leaned over her.
"You can call me Natsu. Get up, Gray." The unconscious boy twitched again. "Get up, Gray!" Natsu repeated, more loudly. Raven cautiously glanced at the temple doors that weren't all that far from them. When she looked back the boy's eyes were open. "Man, you look rough. He beat the snot outta you huh?"
"Natsu? What are you doing here?" He struggled to make a sentence and his voice was quiet enough that Raven had to strain to hear. He wasn't even trying to move from his spot on the ground. Raven realized that he couldn't see her with the way his head was tilted.
"I couldn't remember how to get to the village so I just climbed back up to look for it." Natsu explained. "I found it though, so let's go." He unceremoniously grabbed the back of Gray's shirt and began dragging him away. Raven stayed quiet, in the hopes that Gray would not feel humiliated by losing in front of someone he didn't know.
"Wait, I can walk." Gray told him quietly. "Where's Lyon?"
"Don't know, by the time I made it back everybody but you two had vanished." Natsu said, continue to walk away in the direction of the village.
"You two?" Gray started to collapse. Raven rushed forward to catch him since Natsu's back was turned.
"Hey there," she whispered to him gently. Gray looked at her for a moment without recognition before it came to him.
"You were there." He said. Raven smiled, keeping the same gentle expression. "You were at the fight. You're an Ice-Make wizard too." Gray whispered, cringing in pain.
"Yea, I am. But we'll talk about that when you are feeling better." If I'm still here when you are back on your feet. "Come on." She started walking forward slowly with his weight on her shoulders. She realized Natsu was watching her with an odd expression before he stepped up to help her carry Gray.
"Hold on, we have to hurry and get back to the village before they do." Natsu shouted. If they haven't already made it back, Raven couldn't stop the thought from entering her mind.
They had been walking in silence, making good time, when Gray finally spoke again. Raven was startled by his voice, she had thought he was unconscious again. "Hey…" He whispered nearly inaudibly.
"Yea?" Natsu responded immediately, though he didn't stop walking or even slow their near jogging pace.
"I'm sorry." Gray whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't believe in you. I'm no better." Gray's voice was distant and sullen, as if his mind was locked in a memory of somewhere far away. Raven glanced down at him and saw the tears sliding down his cheeks. Oh shit. What do I do? I'm not equipped to handle this! I barely know this guy! What am I saying, I don't know this guy at all! Crap, crap, crap. Raven's internal panic button had been pressed and was in full rage mode until Natsu took control of the situation.
"Quit feeling sorry for yourself because you lost a fight! You're a member of Fairytail and we don't give up when times are tough, so just put it behind you and keep moving forward!" Gray and Raven both stared at Natsu. Gray's eyes were wide but he didn't say anything. Raven felt like an outsider intruding on a moment that she wasn't supposed to be present for and so remained silent as well. Natsu certainly takes their guild and friendship seriously. She felt a small, sad smile on her lips. I miss having a friend. "Come on! We gotta run." He said suddenly picking up their pace without warning.
"Right," Raven nodded, serious and focused again.
It wasn't very much longer before the village came into sight. She could hear yelling in the distant but couldn't make out the words. As they got closer to the village the gates barring the village from the outside world slid open for them. "Hey guys! Are you okay?" Natsu called out to them as soon as he saw the blonde girl standing just inside the village perimeter.
Raven could see from here that she was shocked to see them. "Natsu!" The villagers shouted happily behind her. Thanks for the recognition, Raven thought spitefully before actually remembering how short tempered and minimal her interactions with the villagers had been. She pushed the thought away and realized that the blonde girl was the one from earlier, on top of the temple. She was making wild gestures and stuttering at them. Until finally the words, "Stay right there! Don't come any closer." managed to escape her lips.
"What?" Natsu called back with a confused expression but didn't slow down his mad sprint for the gate. In order to avoid hurting both herself and Gray further she kept pace with Natsu. Raven glanced from side to side, checking behind them in her peripheral vision to make sure they weren't being followed. She tried her best to slow Natsu down without causes them to drop Gray, clearly seeing that the people were distressed for some reason.
"Natsu, stop! Please!" She screamed just as they reached the gate. Natsu skidded to a halt with Raven's help.
"What's with the grass?" Natsu asked as he stepped forward. Raven's expression was incredulous as the full weight of Gray was suddenly dumped onto her shoulders from the falling Natsu. Gray was heavier than he appeared but Raven was still able to hold him up. Did he really just fall for a pitfall trap? He couldn't possibly be that dumb. Raven closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief but sure enough, when she opened them again Natsu was still laying sprawled in the bottom of a large hole, covered in grass.
"He actually fell for it." One of the villagers standing behind the blonde girl said, looking embarrassed for Natsu.
"No pun intended." Raven chuckled to herself darkly.
"Yea, I'm sorry we ever doubted you." Another one of the villagers told the girl.
"It's ruined," was her only response.
"Very funny, but we don't have time to play practical jokes on each other!" Natsu yelled up from the bottom of the hole. Raven wasn't sure if she should be dubious of the stupidity of the situation or simply laugh at the humor in it.
"Don't talk to me; it was Lucy's dumb idea." The blue cat that Raven had seen earlier leaned over the hole and shrugged, pointing at the blonde.
"I should have known!" Natsu burst out from the bottom of the hole.
"It wasn't supposed to be a joke! It was supposed to be a trap." The girl sang, offended by the accusation. So her name is Lucy. Raven made a mental note of the girl's name.
"I'm glad you are okay. I was worried about you." The cat called down into the hole.
"Yea, I'm fine, but Gray's down for the count." Natsu responded. Suddenly it was as if everyone realized that Raven was still standing on the other side of the 'trap' supporting the nearly unconscious Gray.
"Hey guys." She said awkwardly, attempting to wave without dropping Gray.
"That's the girl from earlier that was looking for Natsu!" One of the villagers shouted from inside the crowd that had formed. Raven gritted her teeth as Lucy gave her a suspicious look before turning her attention back to Natsu, who was still in the hole.
"The guy in the mask beat him up that badly?" She asked concern in her voice. Raven wanted to scream that she look at him and find out instead of just standing around but she kept silent as she looked at all the unfamiliar faces around her.
"Hey! Your ice is gone!" The blue cat yelled happily.
"It must have cracked when he fell. See, told you the pitfall would work." Lucy looked up triumphantly and put her hands on her hips.
"Excuse me Princess, but I believe the spell was actually broken when he left the caster's range of magic." A small pinked haired woman dressed as a maid spoke up next to Lucy. It was the first time Raven had noticed that she wasn't deformed in some way like the other villagers.
Raven sighed loudly. "Excuse me, princess," she snapped sarcastically, "but can we stop talking about ice and start focusing on your friend here? You know, the one that needs some medical attention at the moment."
"Right!" Lucy's attention snapped back to Raven. "Wait, who are you?" She glared as the tone of Raven's sarcastic princess comment sunk in. Raven rolled her eyes and started moving around the pitfall trap, carrying Gray alone, to a place where she could lay him down in safety.
"That's Raven." Natsu announced as he climbed out of the hole in the ground. "Actually, she's the one that cracked the ice. It was a while back, up at the temple." Natsu informed both of the girls as he brushed the dirt from his clothing. "She's an ice wizard, like Gray." Raven ignored the dagger looks of suspicion and anger she was getting from Lucy and focused on Gray.
"Gray?" Lucy whispered affectionately as soon as Raven had placed him down and moved out of the way. Lucy leaned over him.
"So how come Lyon's lackeys haven't made it here yet?" Natsu asked, distracting Lucy from Gray once again. I'm only here to talk to the Dragon Slayer. I don't need to get involved. They'll treat his wound eventually. Just stay out of it Raven. She reminded herself as frustration rose again.
"You know, that's a good question. They left for the village before you but you got here first." Lucy put a finger to her chin and looked up in thought. "I wonder what's taking them so long."
"I'd consider it a blessing and take the time you have to prepare." Raven interjected. Lucy ignored her comment and Natsu seemed too lost in thought to hear. Raven sighed.
"Yea, and carrying Gray I was pretty slow, even with Raven's help." Natsu said slowly, the same thoughtful expression on his face.
"Alright guys! Hurry up and cover that hole!" Lucy yelled suddenly to the villagers, pointing at her completely ridiculous pitfall trap.
"They're not gonna fall for that." Both Raven and Natsu said together.
Raven ground her teeth in frustration and pushed her way back to Gray, who was still lying on the ground, seemingly forgotten by the other two. Some friendship you guys have. "I need a some clean cloth, a small knife, and some alcohol if you have it." She commanded one of the younger villagers standing nearby. He ran off instantly and returned quickly with all the things she had requested. "Thank you." She nodded to the boy.
Natsu and Lucy were still arguing loudly about the best way to defend the village while Raven treated Gray's wounds. He cringed violently when she dumped the alcohol on his cuts but he did not cry out. Slowly and carefully, leaning his weight against her should, she sat him up and began wrapping his body where his cuts were the worst. "Thank you." She heard him whisper quietly into her ear. She paused for a moment, feeling his breath on her neck, before continuing to wrap his wounds without a word. The fabric was just short of reaching his last few cuts when she ran out.
"Would you like me to get some more?" The young boy who had watched her treat Gray asked. Raven was just about to reply when someone else called out, drawing their attention.
"Over there!" They were pointing towards the sky, and sure enough, the lackeys Raven had seen earlier were there, riding on the back of what appeared to be a giant rat, flying through the night sky.
"It's a giant flying rat!" Someone else called out. "And its carrying a bucket!" Another quickly followed up. I'm surrounded by idiots. Raven thought judgmentally as everyone continued to point and repeat the obvious instead of doing anything useful.
"Don't worry about it." She told the boy. "Just get to safety." She picked up the knife he had delivered previously and in a moment, cut through the bottom half of her shirt, ripping it the rest of the way, revealing her stomach. She used the extra fabric from her shirt to quickly finish wrapping Gray's wounds.
"What! Now my pitfall trap is totally pointless!" Lucy shouted angrily, as if that was going to help.
"For the love of the gods stop bullshitting and get prepared!" Raven yelled at Lucy. Her command was met with a glare. As the rat flew overhead, towards the center of town, the bucket swung and a drop of green liquid flew out. Raven watched as the drop fell, it doesn't smell right. It smells… like death. Raven's sensitive nose picked up on the scent of the liquid. She narrowed her eyes. Suddenly she realized that the drop was going to hit the blonde girl that had been glaring at her all night.
"Jelly?" Lucy whispered, confused, as it fell towards her.
"Watch out!" Raven shouted and leapt, grabbing Lucy around the waist and yanking her from the path of the poison jelly.
"What the hell-"she started to yell at Raven until she saw what the drop of that jelly had done to the ground where she had been standing moments before. She whimpered as she realized the ground was completely dissolved.
"That smell, I know that stuff was deadly." Raven whispered more to herself than anyone else, but she realized Natsu noticed her comment. The villagers, seeing what a single drop of the jelly had done, began to panic.
"That rat has a whole bucket of that stuff!" The villagers were screaming and shouting. Just as they realized the trouble they were truly in the rat threw the bucket overhead and the jelly began plummeting to the earth.
"I want everyone to the center of the village!" Natsu roared over the commotion. "Ready to fly Happy?" He shouted.
"Aye sir!" The cat yelled back as wings sprouted from its back and it took off into the sky, taking Natsu with it. The villagers did not need to be told twice. They grabbed Gray and rushed to the village center.
"I'm not going. I won't leave Bobo's grave!" The elderly man that had spoken to Raven earlier shouted, dropping to his knees in front of a large rock.
"But chief, that jelly's gonna get'cha!" A villager called over his shoulder as he sprinted to the center of the village.
Overhead Natsu was using his Fire Dragon Slayer magic and Raven could feel the heat from the flames even though she was on the ground. "Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" She heard him shout. He threw a massive fireball at the falling jelly and blew a hole right through the center of the mass, dispersing it.
Raven grinned as she realized what he'd done. Maybe they aren't all idiots after all. Suddenly the first drop of jelly hit the ground on the outskirts of the village and short steam into the air. One of the globs of the jelly substance was heading right for the chief of the village and Bobo's grave. "Ice-make," Raven whispered as she leapt for the chief. "shield" she finished the spell over the top of Bobo's grave as she grabbed the chief and leapt out from under the threat of the jelly moments before it crashed down.
"Oh no! Chief!" A villager that had been watching cried. As the steam from the jelly dissipated they could see Raven clutching the small man around the waist and racing towards the village center.
As soon as she hit the ring of safety they had established she threw the chief to one of the nearby villagers. She turned and slammed her hands into the ground as she shouted, "Ice-make wall!" A massive wall of ice erupted from the ground starting at her hands and wrapping itself entirely around the village center. Raven continued to pour magic into the wall as the acid jelly splashed up and melted away sections of the wall.
She stood and wiped sweat from her brow as she surveyed the damage. She was breathing heavily and her ice wall was falling away since she cut off the magic supply to the spell.
"The entire village is gone." She heard them say. My magical energy has been running on low for too long. She thought, looking at her own hands. Every spell she casted she ran the risk over exerting herself. She looked around at the people.
"Is anyone hurt?" She called out loudly.
"This is terrible," was the response that she got from the incredulous villagers.
"Bobo's grave is still standing." The chief whispered. Raven smiled, knowing her ice shield had protected the grave. As they watched the rock tumbled over and three figures emerged from the smoke. It was the three people Lyon had ordered to kill the villagers.
"The Cold Emperor told us to eradicate the village and its people. We were trying to show mercy by making your deaths quick and painless." The girl standing in the middle of the three spoke to them in a soft voice. "But, since that didn't work, we'll have to resort to bloodshed."
"Fifty villagers, three wizards, shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes." The short blue haired one said.
"You ready?" Natsu asked.
"Yea," Lucy swung her hips dramatically.
"Count me in." Raven said, sinking into a fighting stance beside them.
"Count again cause there's four wizards!" The cat shouted behind them.
"How dare them!" The chief burst out angrily. "Such disrespect," he spat. He took a deep breath. "You knocked over Bobo's grave! How could you-" the chief leapt at the intruders but three villagers grabbed him and held him back.
"Get him to safety." One villager ordered the others. They nodded and carried the still screaming chief off.
"Let me help you." A voice said from behind them.
"Gray! You came to." Lucy called out happily.
"Not gonna happen." Natsu said seriously, not even looking over his shoulder. "We don't need your help." Raven was surprised by the intensity of his refusal, but she could understand it.
"Natsu, don't do this to me." Gray said, somewhat desperately. He was breathing heavily and barely standing but still, he wanted to fight. Raven had to admire his courage, even if he was being foolish.
Without warning Natsu whipped around and slammed his fist into Gray's stomach. "Just lie down and rest." Gray lurched forward and clutched Natsu's forearm before whispering, "someday I'll... kill…" and then he was unconscious again.
"But why?" Lucy whispered in disbelief.
"He's giving Gray some tough love." The cat explained.
"Gray is in no condition to fight, and Natsu knows it, even if Gray doesn't." Raven explained.
"So, we had to stop him." The cat finished, smiling at Raven.
"That means deep down they really do care." Lucy whispered more to herself than anyone else. "Can you look after him for us?" Lucy asked the few villagers that were still lingering.
"No problem Miss Lucy." A villager responded, gently lifting Gray's limp body.
"We're not leaving until every person in this village is dead." The woman announced. "Angelica," the giant rat standing behind them shrieked in a horrible way and leapt into the air, taking the girl with it.
"We're not gonna let you get away with this!" Lucy screamed and jump onto the rat as it flew away.
"Well, I guess she's got that one." Raven said, a little surprised by her daring move.
"Yep, she's stupid." The cat said matter-of-factly. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks so.
"More like insane!" Natsu yelled as he watched the rat fly away. Suddenly, just a ways outside of what used to be the village, the rat dropped from the sky like a brick.
"Oh great, he's gonna be ticked." The blue haired boy said as he watched the rat fall.
"I don't have ticks!" The other burst out.
"I wasn't talking about you." The blue haired one said, un-phased by his partner's outburst.
"Do you think she made it?" Natsu asked, looking in the direction they had landed. "That big rat may have crushed her."
"If so she's probably a goner. I'll go check on her." The cat said, materializing its wings once more.
"Thanks, be careful." Natsu smiled at the cat.
"I'm sure she's fine." Raven spoke quietly to Natsu, who was clearly upset about his friend.
"We'll stay here and deal with them." Natsu said, mimicking Raven's stance.
He leapt forward without warning and head butted the dog-like boy. He howled in shock, and possibly pain. Without a moment of hesitation fire erupted from Natsu's mouth at the other boy.
"A wizard that can breathe fire? Don't tell me you are the Salamander from Fairytail that I've heard so much about?" The other, smaller man, said, dissipating a small blue glow. The fire didn't even seem to have touched him.
The dog-like boy stood up. "I'm good!" He yelled to no one in particular. Natsu glanced back behind him.
"Don't worry Natsu, I've got this one, you focus on beating that one." Raven shouted, jumping into the fight and putting her back to his to face the dog-like boy.
Fighting erupted on either side of the battle field. "Toby, stay back! You don't need to get involved." The smaller one shouted. The dog-like boy nodded and began to move backwards, his eyes staying on Raven.
"Ice-make floor!" She slammed her palms into the ground and casted the spell before he had time to react. He slid backwards down the ice slide that she had made. she could feel the last drops of her magical energy be sapped away. I'm going to have to find another way to beat him. Raven stood and smiled to hide her worry, as she watched him slid on his back down the slide. She jumped onto the ice, sliding on her feet to catch up to Toby.
At the end of the ice floor Toby jumped to his feet. "You choose wrong girl! I'm even stronger than Yuka is!"
"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots." Raven smirked sarcastically.
"Check out my mega-jellyfish paralyzing claws!" He grinned as green claws sprouted from the ends of his fingers. "Bet you'll never guess what these babies can do!"
Raven arched an eyebrow, "Paralyze you?"
"Whoa! How did you know that?" He asked suddenly aghast that she was able to guess the answer. "Hey," he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "you got EPS or something?"
"No, you're just dumb." Raven said matter-of-factly.
He lunged at her but she easily dodged sideways. "Nobody takes to me like that! With just one swipe from my claws you'll be frozen and waiting to die!"
Raven laughed as she dodged swipe after swipe.
"Hey, watch it!" She taunted. "Careful, wouldn't want anyone to get hurt!" She dropped as he made a high swipe and took out his legs with a sweep. "Oh man, you got a little something right here." She gestured to her own forehead as he lay on the ground.
He reached up to brush the invisible thing away and stuck himself with his own claws. A shock ran through as he twitched violently before lying still.
"Hey, Natsu." She said climbing back up the hill that the jelly poison had created.
"These guys were a joke." He grinned as she came up to level ground. "Here we go," he picked up the large stone that was part of Bobo's grave. "We are gonna find a way to change your people back to normal Bobo. I know we will. And I promise you, I will avenge your death." Natsu was speaking to the stone.
Raven's cocky smile disappeared. All this time she had been solely focused on finding Natsu in order to talk to him about the dragons, but here, now that she was finally alone with him, it just didn't seem like the right time. She had become invested in helping these wizards in a way that she didn't think she was capable of anymore. It was refreshing to feel like she was part of a team. She had been alone for far too long.
Raven placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder and looked towards the sky. "The sun's rising, come on, we should find where the villagers went and try to find Lucy." Raven said quietly.
"Yea," Natsu said, rising. "This isn't over yet."
