SORRY this is so late at night :( But I hadn't worked on it that much today so.. Yeah. WELL it's a really long chapter today to make up for how I missed an update, but the downside is I think the chapter is kind of rushed.. IDK you guys tell me. Okay well I really should be going to sleep, so I hope you enjoy!
- Chapter 9 -
Am I That Much of a Burden?
By LoreliMae
Lucy had thought the rain would never end. It was an ongoing downpour for what she estimated to be at LEAST an hour. Somehow, the world had managed to make it even darker than before. Lucy had no idea that the earth could get so dark. She couldn't see anything! After Happy had calmed down and fell asleep, every little noise made her jump. She had ended up making a bet with Happy; Lucy believed that it would still be raining by the time Natsu and the rest had returned. Happy guessed that the rain would stop by then. The prize? Winner gets to give the loser one order that they MUST follow. And as luck would have it, Lucy was the one who would be following an order that day. The group returned about ten minutes or so after the rain had stopped, the two males beaten and bruised. As usual, the Scarlet Mage came out unscathed.
'How unsurprising..' Lucy thought to herself.
The path looked no better than before the three had left. If anything, it looked a heck lot worse. They found Lucy, quite drenched, sitting in Erza's soaked pile of random objects, and Happy sleeping under a giant leaf, muttering something about Juvia missing Gray. There were puddles of water throughout the entire dirt road, creating small deposits of mud. Gray and Natsu trudged over to where Lucy sat, quietly taking their places next to her on top of Erza's knocked over cart. Natsu's eyes were so black and swollen it looked like he could barely see. And Gray didn't look too good himself either. It didn't take the two long though to notice the evil aura emitting from their blonde friend. They had felt all too much of that over the past hour with Erza. Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, Natsu and Gray scrambled to their feet and sat themselves on the edge of the forest with a loud thump. Erza nodded her head with satisfaction, and cautiously made her way over to Lucy.
"You.. LEFT.. Me.." She mumbled. Erza stopped in her tracks, startled at Lucy's tone.
"You all.. LEFT ME!" She yelled angrily, her head whipping up to look at them all. Her face was twisted into one of anger, scaring Gray's clothes right off him.
"Listen, Lucy-" Erza started, putting her hands up nervously.
"NO!" Lucy screamed. "YOU listen to ME!" She stood abruptly, causing the almighty Erza to step back a bit. Natsu and Gray watched from the sidelines with awe and terror. "You three.. LEFT ME.. With.. With.." She stuttered, slowly raising her hand to point at the blue pile of fur under the leaf, who was now staring back at her with fear in his eyes.
"WITH HIM!" She shrieked. "A whole HOUR of nothing but fish!" Lucy stomped her feet and waved her arms, emphasizing at how angry she was. No. She was PISSED.
"Hey Lucy, did you know that there are over 30,000 different kinds of FISH? And did you know that Tuna can swim up to 43 miles per hour? I didn't until I read this book on fish! You know what else it said about fish Lucy? It said that Taicho fish are the tastiest out there! But you can only find them in the seas of Joya. I wanna try a fish like that! How about you, Lucy? Do you wanna try that fish? Maybe we can go fishing together! I think Natsu wouldn't mind coming either. He cooks the best fish! What if we combined his skills with cooking with that Taicho fish? Huh Lucy? Do you think that fish would taste good?" Lucy mimicked, all the while getting closer and closer to Happy until she finally scooped him up with one hand. Happy peered over at Natsu, looking for help, but Natsu only shook his head sadly. She was just too far gone.
"And you three LEFT ME with him!" She cried, finally dropping Happy and falling to her knees. "I'm cold, wet, fished out, and just plain tired." Her small cries eventually turned into full out sobs. She just wanted to get this job over with and go home. Gray and Natsu looked at each other, not really knowing what to do.
"Should we help her?" Gray whispered.
"I don't think that's smart. She might freak out again.." Natsu muttered.
"Well we can't just leave her like this! She'll scare all of the monsters away!" He hissed back. Natsu thought for a moment.
"We could always knock her out."
"What are you, crazy?" He exclaimed. "She'd slit our throats before we even got close! Someone's just gonna have to carry her until we can set up camp. And it's NOT going to be me." Gray folded his arms, nudging Natsu with his elbow to go pick her up.
Natsu swallowed nervously, shakily standing up and walking over to where Lucy sat on the ground crying. "H-Hey, Luce.." He cooed. "You doin' okay?"
Lucy shook her head, wiping her tears with her dirty arm. Natsu looked back at Gray once more. Gray nodded his head. Natsu turned back around and held out a hand to the blonde cautiously. She glanced up at him, her face covered in mud and tears. Thankfully, she took his hand without a problem.
"Get on my back. We'll head out and set up a camp site." He muttered, clearly embarrassed at what he was having to do. He really did feel bad for her though. There was something in the back of his mind, screaming at him that he should be worried about something. But he figured that this was it and that was his fear talking. Yet he still couldn't help but think there was something more to why she was so upset.
Lucy nodded, her cries turning into small sniffles. She wiped her face once more and climbed onto his back, resting her head on his shoulder. A slight blush made its way up to Natsu's cheeks, catching the attention of the other three. Erza just stood in the middle of it all, beginning to gather up what was left of her things. Gray slowly made his way to his feet, joining the others.
After they had all managed to salvage what wasn't ruined by the storm, they began to make their way back down the path.
By the time they had reached a suitable place for their campsite, Lucy had managed to fall asleep on Natsu's back. No one dared to wake her, for fear she would lash out once again. They had laid her down inside the tent for the girls, tucked in inside of her sleeping bag, Happy outside 'guarding' the entrance. Natsu and the others were sitting around the campfire, discussing the past events and events to come.
"Do you think it was really that bad, being there with Happy while we were gone?" Gray asked.
Erza nodded. "I don't know about you two, but Happy can be a bit.. Tiring."
"Well she certainly seems tired." Natsu replied, glancing over at her tent where the blonde was sound asleep.
"Oh, speaking of her being tired, did you find out what was wrong Natsu?" Erza asked. Natsu looked back at her, slightly confused.
"Wrong with what?" He asked. Gray face palmed.
"With Lucy, you idiot!" Gray answered.
"I don't remember there being anything wrong. Are you talking about earlier today?" Natsu answered the two, who were now giving him slightly confused looks.
"You're telling me you don't remember?" Erza said, looking at him with worried eyes.
"Remember WHAT?" What the heck were they talking about? How was he supposed to know what was wrong with Lucy? Sure, she was his partner and all, but it's not like he went snooping around her personal life or anything.
"Natsu, last night, you told us that Lucy's magic power was half empty." Gray said seriously.
Lucy's magic power.. Half empty?
Natsu fell to the ground, grabbing his head in pain. Erza and Gray leapt up from their seats, instantly at Natsu's side. He hissed at the pain in his head, grabbing it as if that would make it stop. His head felt like it was going to explode! Suddenly, things began flowing back into his mind. He was.. Remembering. The moments that had been before fuzzy, were now clear. And agonizing. Natsu remembered everything about his visit with Lucy; why he had ran after her, why he felt so sick, and what that man did to her.
"We have to find him.." Natsu growled, slowly lowering his hands from his head. The pain had begun to subside now that his memories had returned. Everything made sense now! All the pieces were beginning to fit together.
"Find who?" Gray asked, looking at Natsu slightly confused.
"That man! The man who's stealing Lucy's magic!" Natsu said, this time a bit lower. Anger filled his voice as he thought more and more about what he had done to him; and Lucy. "It still all doesn't make much sense. All I'm was sure about is that this man, whose name is apparently Toku according to Lucy's cries, is taking her magic power. But for what reason? And why isn't she telling us?" Natsu explained to the others.
"So this man is taking her power.. And she's hiding it from us." Erza said to herself thoughtfully. "That must mean he is threatening her with something so she doesn't speak." She deduced. Gray and Natsu nodded. "Tell us exactly what happened that night, Natsu." Erza asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I went to her house later that night and hid in the bushes to wait for her."
"That sounds a bit stalker-ish.." Gray commented.
"Not the time, Gray." Erza glared at the ice mage.
"Sorry.." He muttered.
"Anyways, she came home and went into the alleyway behind her house. There this Toku guy just appeared out of nowhere, and the two started talking." Natsu explained.
"So he is obviously a mage." Erza added. "But what kind.."
"Then, he put his hands on her shoulders. I think that was when he started draining her power, because Lucy looked like she was in pain." Natsu clenched his fists. Just talking about that night was making him angry..
"Well I wasn't about to sit there and watch her pass out." He growled. "I went over there and confronted the guy. But for some reason, Lucy didn't want me there."
"So she is being blackmailed. And by her not wanting you there, he must be blackmailing her with us." Erza inferenced. "So basically, if Lucy doesn't give Toku her magic power, then something is going to happened to guild." She finished. Natsu and Gray looked at each other worriedly. No wonder she had been hiding this from them.. She was keeping the guild safe.
"Tell us the rest." Gray nudged Natsu, who nodded and continued.
"Well I tried to stop him, but right as I was about to hit him, something stopped me. I think it was his magic, because it felt like my blood had turned into poison. I couldn't move and Lucy kept begging him to stop.. And for a moment.." Natsu hesitated, unsure of his own memories. "I think.. I died. But I woke up in Lucy's bed, and I couldn't remember anything about the guy!" He narrowed his eyes. He wanted more than anything to go find Toku, and to beat him until all of Lucy's powers had returned!
Erza sighed. "Well, there's not much we can do about it now. At least we've figured out part of what's going on. After this job, let's go talk to the master about it. For now, we should try and get some sleep." She said.
"But if we tell the master, and go confront Toku, then won't he just hurt the guild, making all of Lucy's work in vain?" Gray asked, unsure of their plan. Natsu stood abruptly, marched up to Gray, and punched him in the jaw.
"N-Natsu?!" Erza stuttered.
Gray stumbled backwards, bringing a hand up to his face. "What was that for?!" He yelled.
"How could you even THINK about not telling the master?!" Natsu screamed at Gray. "Our safety is of no importance! Lucy is dying, she's willing to risk her LIFE for us! Shouldn't we do the same?" He growled. Gray cast his eyes down.
"Yeah. Sorry.." He muttered. He lowered his hand.
"Alright then. We have a big day ahead of us, so let's rest up for it." Erza sighed.
"Right." Natsu muttered. If he had it his way, they'd drop this mission and look for Toku right then and there. But they had to be smart.. Lucy's life was on the line here. He took one last glance at her tent, then went and lied down on his sleeping bag in front of the fire. Happy floated over to him, tears in his eyes.
"Natsu.. Is Lucy going to be okay?" He cried. Natsu flashed him his infamous smirk.
"Of course! I won't let anything happen to her." He reassured his best friend. Happy nodded, laying down next to him.
'Don't worry Luce.. You won't be suffering for much longer.' Natsu thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
"It's only nine monsters. The only way to make it equal is to split it into threes. Three for me, three for Gray, and three for Erza. Besides, we need SOMEONE to guard camp from robbers." Natsu explained to Lucy, who wasn't so keen on staying at the camp while the others went on the job.
"I know the request mentioned nearby robbers, but I still don't think we have anything to worry about!" Lucy whined. She didn't just want to sit around while the others did the jobs alone. Even though she wasn't near as powerful as them with her magic like this, she still felt as though she wanted to help.
"Please Luce, just do this for me- for us." Natsu pleaded. There was no way he would let her go out there when he knew what was going on. He didn't want anything to happen to her. She had to stay here for her own safety.
"For the last time, no!" She said to Natsu, this time a bit of anger in her voice.
"Lucy, you can't go!" He said back, raising his voice as well.
"I'm part of this team too!"
"Just listen to us!"
"I'm going whether you like it or not!"
"Well I don't like it!"
"You don't have to! I'm gonna fight just like the rest of you!"
"No, you're not!"
"Yes, I AM!" By then, the two were full out yelling at each other. Natsu had to think of something.. And quick.
"You'd just slow us down."
Lucy froze. Did he really just..
"Now stay here." Natsu ordered her, turning around. Happy flew solemnly behind him. His face was clear of emotion. But inside, it was a whirlwind of them. He hated that he had to lie to her like that, and he hated it even more that it came out as an insult. Couldn't he have said it in a nicer way? He didn't mean to be so.. Condescending. He couldn't bring himself to turn around and look at her as the group headed off into the forest. The look on her face might break his heart.
Lucy watched as the figures disappeared into the greenery, leaving her all alone. Her heart hurt from what Natsu had said to her.
'You'd just slow us down.' That sentence ran through her head over and over, hurting her even worse than Toku stealing her power. She knew that she was weak, but to hear it come from him.. From the man that she loved.. It made tears come to her eyes. Lucy wiped her face furiously. Stupid Natsu! To think that she actually loved him.. She laughed bitterly to herself. That wasn't love. It was a childish crush that was no more. She had always pictured Natsu as someone who valued lives as equals, but to hear him say that about her.. It made her rethink everything about him. That had been what she loved about him. His fairness and eagerness to treat others right, that everyone was just as important as the other. But apparently that was all just talk. He really was a jerk. And it was only now that Lucy was able to see the real side of him. But so what if she slows them down? They're all in this together! They're a team, and he's the one who taught her that, even if he was lying! Lucy stood up furiously. She'd show him that even though she is weak, she could still stand up for herself. And take out those monsters.
It felt like it had been hours since Lucy had left the camp site, but she knew that it was only about thirty minutes. Who knew how hard it would be to be alone with a head full of thoughts and a heart full of emotions? It was certainly taking a toll on her. Lucy would find herself angry at Natsu one minute, then completely depressed about the matter! She wanted to forget that he had ever said that to her, but she knew nothing could change that those words expressed how he pictured her. She thought back to all the times he had saved her.. When she was kidnapped by Phantom Lord, when she was being absorbed by the Infinity Clock, and during the Grand Magic games. Each of those times, had Natsu been annoyed by the fact that she was so weak? Had she been that much of a nuisance to him? Was she really that much of a burden on them that they didn't want her on missions anymore? No matter how much she tried, Lucy couldn't get these thoughts out of her mind. Every single new one that entered only made her hurt more. It came to the point where she started singing out loud to try and take her mind off of it.
".. Feel broken down, my body aches. My heart bleeds from its past mistakes. I can't stop these tears, they fall like rain. Those words are spinning 'round in my brain, so scared and full of-" Lucy slapped her hand over her mouth, as she realized what she was singing. Tears fell down her cheeks, like rain just as the song said. She furiously wiped them away. Why was she crying? She should be mad, not sad! The whole point of singing was to get her mind off things! She had to focus on something else.. Like the monsters.
Lucy tuned her ears for any sound that might indicate a nearby monster. She listen for twigs snapping, leaves rustling, anything. Because for now all she was doing was walking around in a forest. She wanted to hurry up and beat a monster.. To prove Natsu wrong. That for one last time, she'd be able to take care of herself.
As if on cue, Lucy heard a large crash behind her. Looking up from the ground, she realized she was in a giant clearing. Lucy whirled around, almost expecting a giant monster to be looming over her. But she didn't see anything. Nothing but the empty forest which she had been passing through for the past thirty minutes. More noises followed the loud crash, heavy thuds that sounded vaguely like footsteps. Lucy could see the leaves fall off the trees, and could feel the ground beneath her shake, but there was nothing there! She suddenly felt very small, all alone in the big clearing in the even bigger forest. She felt so vulnerable,
So..
Weak.
Lucy shook her head in annoyance. Not that crap again! She took a couple steps closer to where the noise had come from, attempting to somewhat investigate.
'It's probably just a boulder falling off a hill, and rolling into some trees..' She thought to herself as she edged closer and closer to the forest line. The loud thuds and crashes continued, but they sounded as though they were right in front of her. Was there a mini-tornado or something coming towards her?! The trees were being shoved to the side, as if some invisible force was pushing them away. It was then that Lucy noticed.. Large footprints were showing up in the ground, getting closer and closer to where she was.
Everything in her told her to run, to run away from whatever was closing in on her. But she couldn't help but wonder.. What exactly was she running from? There was nothing in front of her that she could visibly see, only hints that something WAS coming. It interested her and scared her at the same time! She watched as the foot prints grew closer and closer, until they were only a couple feet in front of her. It was then that she decided it was time to get out of there. But she was too late.
Lucy felt a large object crash into the side of her stomach, throwing her into the trees next to her. She heard the crack of her ribs breaking, and the tree snap beneath her weight. She didn't even get time to scream before she was picked up again and thrown into the wall of a cliff. She fell to her knees, coughing up blood. Her body shuddered roughly in response to the cough and broken bones. Lucy looked around wildly for whatever hit her, but saw only more footprints and destroyed shrubbery. She grabbed onto a nearby branched and used it to pull her up. Lucy watched as the footprints once again came closer to her, but this time..
They stopped.
Just before they were about to reach her, the foot prints just stopped. As if.. It was flying. Lucy ducked, seeing the branches diagonal to her being knocked off their trunks. There was no doubt in her mind now that something was there. And it was invisible. Whatever it was narrowly missed her head. She ran in the opposite direction, taking cover behind a boulder. She reached down to her hip and pulled out her keys, fumbling around with the ring trying to find the right one.
"Open, gate of the Horseman! Sagittarius!" She called, the horse-man appearing in front of the boulder. Neither had time to do anything before they were swiped away by an invisible arm, getting thrown through the air once again. Lucy landed on her side, rolling into the clearing. She winced as the ground made contact with her side where the monster had hit her once again. Sagittarius wasn't far behind, but he somehow managed to land on his feet.
"Moshi-Moshi!" He said, bow already drawn. Lucy struggled to her feet, standing up beside him.
"Apparently this monster is invisible.. And fast. I think it can fly as well." Lucy explained. "I need you to hit him with one of your arrows, to try and mark where he is!" She ordered.
"As you wish, moshi-moshi!" He saluted. Sagittarius followed the footprints, and watched as they disappeared right in front of them. His arrow followed the path he suspected it to take, and shot. The arrow flew into the air, and for a moment, Lucy thought he missed. But instead it hit the monster with a crack, and flew right back towards them!
"Lucy-sama, watch ou-" Sagittarius was hit by his own arrow, and shimmered back into the spirit world. So the monster also seemed to have some sort of shell judging by the fact that it bounced back.
'I need to think of a way to cover it in something so that I can see it..' Lucy thought to herself. She looked around wildly for a place to duck for cover, but the clearing was empty. She had no choice but to run instead, going in random directions to confuse it as she thought of what to do to mark it. Then, she got an idea.
"Open, Gate of the Compass! Pyxis!" Lucy called. The small bird-like animal appeared next to Lucy. She pointed to the foot prints of the invisible monster.
"I need you to try and keep your needle pointing towards that monster!" Lucy ordered. Pyxis nodded, concentrating hard. The footsteps once again closed in on them. She knew what would happened next. Lucy picked up the spirit and ran, a large crash coming from behind them. She turned to see a giant crater where she once stood. That thing would have crushed her..
"Lucy-san, I've got it!" Pyxis cried from her arms. She glanced down at the compass, her eyes following where the needle pointed. It was right in front of them. Lucy stopped in mid run, turning around and sprinting the other way. Okay.. So she can tell where it is now. But how was she supposed to fight back? She'd have to pull out two spirits at once.
Suddenly, Lucy's legs began to wobble. Her power was giving out!
"No.." She hissed. "Not now!" She pulled out another key.
"Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" She called. Loke shimmered into the world, picking up Lucy and jumping out of the way just in time to dodge another hit from the monster.
"Mind telling me what's going on?" He said to her as they ran.
"First.. Put me down.." She muttered. Loke sighed, setting Lucy down next to him. They continued running, heading towards the forest.
"Invisible monster.." She panted. "Hard shell, fast, and can fly. You can use Pyxis to locate him." Lucy explained as best as she could. Loke looked at her, slightly concerned for his master, then nodded.
"Leave it to me!" He stopped running, taking Pyxis from her arms. She continued to make her way across the clearing. Loke watched as the footprints got closer, then stopped. Pyxis' needle rattled around, indicating it was above them.
"O Regulus, grant me your strength!" He chanted, his ring beginning to glow. Loke jumped up, punching the monster on the underside. He felt a satisfying crack, feeling whatever kind of shell it was beginning to give way. The monster wailed, letting out a high pitched screech. Loke covered his ears, and was hit by the beast's paw sending him flying towards where Lucy was running. He tightened his hold on Pyxis. Loke landed with a thud nearby Lucy. She looked over in terror, rushing over to where he was to make sure he was okay.
"I'm fine." He pushed her hand away, showing that he really was ok. He stood and wiped off the dirt from his face. "I think I've got it figured out!" He smirked. Lucy nodded, and was about to continue her run, but was thrown back by the monster again. She crashed into Loke, but they both continued flying until they were once again in the middle of the clearing. Lucy groaned, rolling over onto her back. Three large claw marks were gashed across her stomach, blood flowing freely. Lucy tried to stand up, but the world began to spin and she fell back down with a thud.
'No.. I can't pass out now! I have.. To win!' She thought to herself. 'To show Natsu.. I'm not weak!' Despite her weakness from the lack of magic, and loss of blood, Lucy somehow managed to get to her feet. Loke continued to attack the beast, parts of the shell beginning to come loose and fly down to the ground. Blood began to cover the beast is various places, allowing Loke to find it easier. Lucy closed Pyxis' gate, silently thanking him.
"I've almost got it!" Loke called to her. He had located a spot where the shell was completely broken through, and aimed for that. Lighting up his ring, Loke chanted. "Regulus impact!" His fist began to glow, and he ran towards the monster who was temporarily blinded by the light. Loke charged towards the monster, his fist connected in its uncovered stomach. The monster screeched in agony once more, flying into the line of trees. Loke continued to run after it, not yet finished. "Regulus blast!" He yelled. A giant beam of light flew towards the beast, shattering its entire shell.
Lucy looked over as the dust cleared, and was amazed at what she saw.
The monster was actually a giant cat-like beast. The shell had apparently been what made it invisible. It lied in a crater, unmoving and unconscious. Its claws were long and mangled, and its fangs hung out of its mouth. The muscles literally bulged out of its skin, no wonder it was so fast. And its wings! They looked as though they belonged to a bat!
"Thank you.." She whispered to Loke. Even though he was far away, she knew he could hear her. She closed his gate, tucking the key back into her ring. Now she had to make it back to camp. But Lucy knew.. She knew she wouldn't be able to make it back. She tried to walk, but only stumbled and fell onto her stomach. She laid in the middle of the clearing, blood beginning to pool under her from the large claw marks that had ripped through her stomach. Lucy coughed once more, then instantly regretted it. Coughing only made the blood come out faster, and hurt the rib that had been continuously hit by the monster's paw. It was no use.. Between her loss of magic and blood, there was no way she could get back. But at least.. She had managed to beat the beast.
"Take that, Natsu.." She muttered bitterly before sleep finally overtook her.
"Did you really have to say she'd slow us down?" Gray mentioned to Natsu, who had been silent the whole time they were out there.
"How else was I supposed to make her stay?" Natsu replied gruffly. He wanted more than anything to apologize to her. He knew she'd be mad at him. He couldn't stand it when she was.. The silence overtook the four once again, Happy floating along sadly.
"You were pretty rough on those monsters." Erza commented, directing it to Natsu. He only shrugged, not really in the mood to talk. They had only found eight of nine before they decided to call it a day. He just wanted to wallow in his own guilt for the moment.
"Don't worry Natsu. When we beat up the Toku guy, you can tell Lucy that you didn't mean it." Happy said to his friend reassuringly. He rested a paw on his back, but still got no response.
After about another fifteen or so minutes, the group could see the vibrant supplies of their camp through the trees.
"It's seems as though no robbers attacked." Gray said, nudging Natsu. Natsu shrugged him off, quickening his pace towards the clearing where they had set up camp. He shoved the branches aside roughly.
"Lucy, we're ba-" His voice caught in his throat as he failed to spot Lucy anywhere.
"Lucy?" He called, making his way further in. He glanced inside of the tents, checking to see if she was inside. Nothing.
"You don't think she ran off to fight, do you?" Gray asked, looking around for her as well. Natsu clenched his fists.
"Why would she even consider it if she knew she was getting weaker?!" Natsu growled, his anger growing by the second. He shoved things out of the way, getting rougher and rougher as he looked for her around the camp. Erza put a hand on his shoulder. Natsu whirled around, nostrils flared.
"Natsu." She said. "We'll find her."
That was all he needed to hear. Natsu pushed her hand off his shoulder and turned back around. "I'm going to go look for her." He said to them. With that, Natsu rushed into the forest, following the faint scent that lead away from the camp.
He would find her. No matter what it took, he had to find her. How could she leave when she knew that she was this weak? She had half her power, and yet she went to go and fight a monster anyways? What was with her? Why did she have to be so headstrong and stubborn all the time? In fact, she was a lot like him in that way. That's when it hit Natsu.. She must've gone because of what he said.
'You'd just slow us down anyway.'
Why did he have to be so rash?! He knew he didn't mean what he said, but at the moment it just seemed to work and he blurted it out in the spur of the moment. Why couldn't he have just thought of something else to say? She had left to go and prove him wrong. He was sure of it. And if she died during the process, then..
It would be his fault.
Natsu's run turned into a sprint as he followed Lucy's scent deeper and deeper into the forest. He began to become more worried as the smell of blood was mixed into her scent. As he followed her path, he saw glimpses of broken trees and large footprints of what must've belonged to a monster. This one was much larger than the ones they had fought; and they were still pretty tough. He looked ahead and saw a large clearing, giant footprints and craters made by the creature. He saw blood in the grass, remnants of what looked like a giant shell, and across the clearing a giant animal lying against a cliff. His heart leapt to his throat as he took in its view. It was a giant cat-like monster, with the wings of a bat and claws that looked more like giant jagged knives. Its fangs hung out of its mouth, covered in dried saliva. But what surprised him the most.. Was that it was dead. Thankfully, Lucy had managed to defeat it apparently. But at what cost?
He followed Lucy's smell, which was becoming more and more mixed with the scent of blood. His heart raced, and his pace continued to increase. He made his way over to the giant monster. It towered over him, even though it was lying down. It was as big as Igneel. Lucy's scent was strong here, so obviously the monster had come in contact with her. He could also smell Loke on it. If that bastard had let Lucy die..
He cleared the thought out of his head. Natsu slowed to a walk as he made his way away from the monster, still following Lucy's scent. Why couldn't he see her? That was when he noticed the trail of blood that lead back into the forest. She had tried to get back. Natsu sprinted back into the forest, and followed the trail. Where was she?!
Lucy.
She was laying on her side, the ground below her stained with blood. This must've happened a while ago for the blood to be sucked into the ground like that. He hesitantly made his way up to her motionless body. He was too afraid to look.. To see if she was still alive.
"L-Luce?" He quietly called, dropping to his knees. Her back was to him. Gently, he rolled her over onto his lap. His heart stopped.
Along her stomach were three long gashes that looked like claw marks, obviously from the beast. They were deep; very deep. Her breath was raspy and came out in short gasps. Her body was shivering from the loss of blood. It had gone into shock mode. And the worst part was.. Natsu couldn't sense any magic power coming from her.
"When a mage loses their magic power, their body dies. That is the most basic rule of a mage." That was what Natsu learned when he was a kid. And that is now what Natsu feared.
Lucy, don't die T^T Hehe what am I saying? I know what's gonna happen.. x] CLIFFEH! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and again I will TRY to update this week and on Friday, but no promises.. I really wanna catch back up to my schedule. I would love some tips, so don't forget to comment and fave! Good night mina ^.^