~ Hunted Once More ~
Amidst the disaster, I kneeled by Natsu's side. Huts were smashed and bodies were scattered everywhere. The half-demon puppy didn't bark anymore but at the sight of a motionless Natsu, he continued to lick Natsu's wounds.
"Natsu… Natsu, please wake up…" I pleaded for the tenth time or so. What do I have to do for him to wake up?
I scanned the grounds for the third time. Seemingly nothing had changed. Erza hadn't moved, and Happy and Gray were still nowhere in sight. Like an ominous grey cloud, Zentopia's flying ship lingered. They'll probably want to claim the map from me soon. What should I do? Do I leave them behind and run…? No, I don't want to! But I can't fend against a canon!?
"Natsu…" I nudged him again, hoping something would change. "Natsu, hurry and wake up…" This helpless feeling… I fought back the tears that threatened to well up in my eyes.I refused to cry. Not when Erza risked her own safety to protect me. I had made up my mind. When they come for the map, I will fight.
"Arf!" The puppy started barking and bounced up and down excitedly. "Arf, arf, arf!"
"What is it?" I reached out to pet it but it didn't calm down.
"Arf! Arf!" It yelped at the sky and jumped again.
…above…? I looked up- and I saw parachutes.
They didn't fill the sky, but there were at least ten of them.
"Natsu, wake up!" I shook him violently; a sense of urgency was growing. My efforts were finally rewarded.
"Ugh…"
"Ohmygod Natsu!" He's alive! I exclaimed delightedly when he stirred.
"Arf!" The dog was happy too. Natsu's eyes started to open.
"Natsu! Can you hear me?" I shouted as I brushed his disheveled pink hair from his face and examined him.
"Lucy…? Wha…? The canon…? The dog!" He slurred semiconsciously.
"Arf! Arf!"
"The dog's here, Natsu, he's fine." I reassured him. "But you, your injuries! Don't move around so much!"
Okay, I knew I was contradicting myself. I wanted him to get up but now I'm telling him not to get up?! I gave up on that internal struggle. I was just gonna fight. I will fight to protect them… these people who protect me so much…!
I looked up again to see how much longer we had and to recount the number of parachutes. …Eighteen! Wait, what's that small thing flying around? Is that…?
"HAPPY!" I impulsively shouted to the sky at full volume, and suddenly glowing green bullets fired. Crap! I gave my own survival away! I grasped at my waist for my whip in reflex but I knew I was too slow.
"Ice Make: Lance!"
Gray?! I followed that voice and the direction where the lances came from, and I saw him. He ran towards us half-naked, but he might as well not be wearing any clothes because his pants were tattered and torn. He had patches of ice all over his body… to cover his wounds?
"Lucy! Natsu!" Happy called. "OHH! NATSU!" His tone became vexed when he saw the state Natsu was in.
"Arf!"
"Eh? Why is there a dog here?"
"I don't know? Natsu saved him? Probably…" I replied. "Moreover, now's not the time for that right!?"
"Lucy, you're safe?" Gray thought it was unexpected.
I tried to explain what happened to him. "Erza-! Erza, she- her armour- and then Natsu-!"
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, slow down." Gray stopped me. I hadn't realized I was so rattled that I couldn't form a coherent sentence. My heart was thumping at the thought of those guys getting closer and closer to the ground with every second.
"You can tell us everything later. But for now… Get up!" Gray shouted those last two words as he kicked Natsu in the back.
I instinctively reached out to shield Natsu's back after that kick. "What are you doing?!"
But Gray ignored me and just said, "Oi, dumbass. You're going to lose to me if you don't get up." He's a little too lively for someone with so many injuries, isn't he? But then again, Natsu's injuries looked more severe than Gray's. Ah that's right, Gray can make ice shields.
"Ugh… I'll kill you-" Natsu tried getting up but winced and collapsed back down as soon as he tried.
"Arf! Arf!" The puppy licked him again as a form of encouragement, but Natsu just lay there half-conscious.
"It's no use… We were flying above the canon when it fired, but then I…" Happy sounded like he was about to cry. "But then the canon's energy made the air tremble. I couldn't hold on and then I dropped him… Sorry, Natsu…"
"What!" I exclaimed. Does that mean… direct hit?!
Then Gray sighed. "But this idiot will probably survive. What about Erza?" Gray looked around.
I pointed towards Erza and answered guiltily, "Over there… Erza fainted because of me…"
"Oh." Gray's expression flickered for a moment. But then he said, "Well, it can't be helped then. If you got hit, you'd probably be dead. But if it were Erza, she would just pass out. That's just the kind of monster she is."
"Gray…" Even though he didn't reproach me or anything, when his expression wavered I knew we were in trouble. And yet he tried to cheer me up instead. I was deeply comforted.
But not forgetting the death bounty hanging over our heads, I switched to serious mode again. No way were we letting Zentopia off after what they did. Anyway, we couldn't run with two injured, but also because that damned ship would definitely find us, especially now that it's broad daylight. It's not fight or flight anymore. There was no choice.
"But is Natsu really fine? His injuries look critical…" They're purple, for God's sake! What kind of poisonous magic canon was that?
"If only we had fire…" Happy sighed. Fire? Ah, that's right… another Salamander specialty.
"But so long as he doesn't take another hit by the canon he should stay alive…" Gray said.
Abruptly, green bullets shot forth once more. "Ice Make: Shield!" They were no match for Gray's shield. Those men had finally touched ground. "Whoops, no time to chat anymore." Gray said before he rushed into the mob of gunners. The way he fought was unruly, despite his injuries, so I knew he was furious.
"Gate of the Scorpion, I open thee! Scorpio!" I summoned, and faithfully, he appeared. He had no top, but he wore black pants underneath a red sheet. His metal sting curled up behind him at first but without waiting for a command, he crouched down on all fours like a scorpion, his metal sting poised in the air, and shot forth a great tornado of sand.
Gray fought with his Cold Excalibur, but these gunmen were different from the ones we had encountered at the shore. Unlike before, these men, on top of the guns they had, even had armour and, if I weren't wrong, they had better reflexes and hand to hand combat skills too. They were Zentopia's elite troops. I did a rough head count and I think I counted twenty. We can do this, I thought to myself. But boy was I wrong.
"Cease all resistance, and hand over the map. Or do not blame me for being merciless." That wretched voice hailed down from the ship again.
"Don't be stupid! There's no way we'll give it up to the likes of you!" Gray yelled back in rebellion.
"Is that your final answer? Very well. Charging Infinity Canon. Firing in 10… 9…" The countdown began. My mind went blank, my heart went wild, and my palms started to sweat. I knew we wouldn't survive another hit. All I could think of was that we were going to die.
And for what? Anger boiled inside of me. All because of some treasure? All because of this map?! That's right the map! I grasped around for the map and my left hand found it beside me.
I lifted the black case over Natsu. No, but if I do this then what about the treasure?
"… 7… 6…" The countdown echoed in the background.
Screw that! Now's not the time to be hesitating! Natsu's life is more important!
I opened the black casing over Natsu's body and exposed the map- the map that burns when exposed to sunlight. As sure as the sun will rise, the map caught fire and I recoiled automatically as it started to burn the box as well.
Eat up, Natsu. This is about as much I can do for you right now.
"… 4… 3…" The countdown persisted.
As the sound of slurping died down, the large flames dwindled and disappeared. I mirrored Natsu as he slowly got to his feet. Many of his wounds had disappeared. Was he alright now?
"Thank you for the meal." He said, with newfound strength, and he wiped his mouth just as the countdown reached zero. "Now that I've eaten, it's time to pay them back…" Natsu leapt into the air straight towards the hurtling ball of purple and black swirls and- What's he doing?!
The size of the orb was gradually receding as Natsu met with the orb. I gasped and I covered my mouth; I was shocked when I realized what he was doing. He's eating it!?
"…100 fold, in their own coin!" Natsu finished his sentence as soon as he consumed it.
And then he slammed his fists together, producing a red Magic Seal. "With a flame on the right hand," He raised his right fist and engulfed it in flames. "…and a flame on the left," He raised left fist and set it ablaze- but in purple-black flames! Then he brought both hands together and shouted, "…When you combine the flames together they make, INFINITY FLAME DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!"
An enormous fireball that was a fiery orange and purple-black was thrown at the ship in one swift action.
'BOOM!' The fireball hit the ship with an explosion and blasted it away. Smoke broke out and clouded the sky. A thunderous crash came from some distance away where the ship smashed into the ground, probably somewhere in the forest.
"He did it!" I jumped in joy and cheered automatically after the crash.
I was ecstatic for a moment, but once the ship went down, Natsu also fainted and fell to the ground. Immediately, I was by his side again but there were no noticeable wounds.
"Natsu! Hey, what's wrong?" I exclaimed, alarmed.
Gray and Scorpio had just finished up with the remaining elite troops and they both gathered around Natsu too.
"If there's nothing else, I'm going back to have a date with Aquarius now. Later!" Scorpio took his leave.
"Don't worry, Lucy. He just fainted from eating something strange again, that dimwit." Yet, even though Gray had called Natsu some names again, he said it like it was actually a form of endearment between the two of them- that is, hurling insults at each other. I knew in actual fact Gray was proud that Natsu had just blown away that floating ship.
"Yep, yep! The same thing happened too when he ate Laxus' lightning!" Happy commented as he flew above.
He ate lightning?! My thoughts started to wonder about what kind of insanely powerful wizard Natsu was and then I remembered somebody else who was just as insanely powerful- Erza. Now that I had affirmed Natsu would be fine, I went back to Erza.
She had saved me that day, without her, I would not be alive. I was eternally grateful, of course. But I also felt severely guilty. It was like the what- 6th day since I've joined Fairy Tail? And already, she risked her life for me. I wondered what I had done to deserve this and at that moment, I felt really, really glad to have joined Fairy Tail- it might just be the best thing I've ever done in my life.
I squatted down by her unmoving body in that impenetrable armour. "Erza?" She did not respond; she was still out cold. But she still had a steady pulse. "Thank you, Erza." I said softly.
"Uh…" Someone had started off and I turned round to see who it was. It was mayor Mocha. Crap! Did he see the map? Was he suspicious of us now?! Sigh… We're probably going to have to go on the run again… But then he spoke, using a tone one would use when asking others for a favour, "Now might not be such a good time, but could I speak with all of you?"
Eh?
The sun had now arisen high in the sky. We all sat in the middle of the village amongst the debris. Erza and Natsu had both regained their consciousness and the four (five plus Happy) of us sat on one side while the entire village of half-demons were on the other side facing us. Mayor Mocha sat before all the village members. The atmosphere was extremely formal, like a professional meeting, and it didn't seem like they wanted to fight us or anything.
And then mayor Mocha dropped the bomb. "Actually, we were the ones who sent out that mission."
All of our jaws dropped simultaneously. What?!
Happy and Gray went "What?!"
"What do you mean?" Erza asked.
"That's right! Explain yourself!" Natsu shouted, impatiently rather than angrily.
Mayor Mocha sighed and then began his explanation. "A few weeks ago, some guests visited our island. They were two men. It was uncommon to have visitors on our island, but it was not like it never happened before, so we did not think much of it. However, when they left, we realized that they had taken something along with them that they weren't supposed to- a treasure map." In other words, the treasure map belonged to them huh? I wonder if they're angry with me for burning it…
"Let me guess, men from Zentopia?" Erza said.
The mayor continued, "Yes, most likely, but at that time we did not know who they were. They came and left in a huge ship, like the one that was flying, except it was more normal and it sailed in the seas. I sent a few of our villagers to track them down and they followed them back to the mainland, to Hargeon Town. They approached the people on the ship and demanded the map back. But not only did they deny having it, they also ridiculed our people for being half-demons and called them freaks. Onlookers gathered and suddenly people thought that we were the ones bullying them, and not the other way around. We were not welcomed on the mainland, and so my people had no choice but to come back empty-handed." The anger seethed through mayor Mocha's words when he said that. Indeed, the discrimination against half-demons seemed greatly unjustified.
"But why were you so sure that they had taken the map? Couldn't a villager have taken it out but forgotten to put it back?" Erza asked.
"No, that was not possible." He answered. "You see, everybody here on the village treasures that map, because to us, it was not just any map. It was a map that led us to something more valuable than treasure; it was the key to finding the cure for half-demonism. Even if we already knew where the map directed us, it was still a priceless heirloom and we would never remove it from the Village Hall; we would never risk it getting exposed to sunlight."
"If I may ask… how did you come into possession of the map? And how do you know it leads to a cure?" I questioned cautiously. We (us Fairy Tail mages) had all seen the map before, it merely marked a spot on the island, but it had no indication of the treasure being a cure. Also, it felt the most peculiar to me that a map to a cure for half-demonism would just happen to appear on an island full of half-demons. But for them, without a doubt, it must seem like a calling from God or some sheer stroke of luck.
"I don't know actually. None of us can say for sure. It is a legend passed down from our ancestors. But it was the only opportunity to end this never-ending exile that had presented itself, and we would not pass up on such a clue. Each generation of village head would inherit this duty, the duty to find the cure to this curse." He raised his demon hand as he said the word 'curse'.
"So… how come it was never found?" If it had been around for such a long time, then why weren't they cured? I was starting to doubt this existence of this "cure".
But mayor Mocha continued to explain, "I know it sounds unbelievable, and we've read the map. Trust me, we know what it looks like and it sure doesn't say much. In fact all it does is point us in the right direction. The first few generations led an army of warriors, but only half of them survived and even though they survived, they were severely injured. It turns out that there was a fearsome monster within that place, a monster that had attacked everyone without being seen. Nobody knows what it looks like even after all the times we've charged in. Eventually, the injured warriors recovered but… then we found that they all died young, at a human age, shorter than the average lifespan of a half-demon which is 300 years.
"So thereafter, whenever we recruited warriors for this grand quest, we would tell them that even if they survived, it was possible they would die before they even reached a hundred years old. We made sure that whoever signed up knew what they were signing up for. Our ancestors kept trying and trying but the result was always the same. They thought that it was another part of the curse of being half-demon, and that that place was forbidden to us, so we hired visitors who were mercenaries whenever they stumbled upon our island. These mercenaries looked all over, but they never found anything.
"Unfortunately, for some reason, stories started to spread. There are many versions of the story and some of them are just baseless rumours. Things like, Galuna Island is an island of demons that sacrifice human beings to their demon king… there is a wicked curse on Galuna Island, all who goes there will die… there is secret treasure on Galuna Island that's guarded by a fearsome village of demons… Thus, while the rumours scared away many people, it also tempted the greedy, power-hungry people.
"Whoever approached us never tried to harm us; they merely wanted the rumoured treasure. If we told them where to find it they did not lay a finger on us. But nobody ever found it! Still, it proves that there's something about that place that is off limits to us half-demons, because humans that came out said they never encountered any monster and they obviously were not injured." He finished his long speech.
"That's horrible…" I muttered. Then I realized he had left out something, "So where's this place?" I asked.
"The Forbidden Temple." He said and pointed towards one direction. We all followed the demon finger and we saw the top of the Forbidden Temple that was slightly higher than the tallest trees. It looked like a stone-brick building with some moss lining its cracks.
"And seeing as it was harmless to humans, you decided to post the mission out to guilds then?" Erza asked another question.
"No, if it hadn't been stolen, we would have never appealed to humans for help. We sent out the request because we simply wanted the map back. We never heard of any guild accepting our request when you came knocking on our gate, so we were cautious, but we let you in anyway." Ah right. I remembered how Natsu dragged me off that day. Nobody must have reported to Mirajane. "We would have told you all this the next morning and asked for the map back!" His voice was rising. "But YOU! You destroyed our map!" I jumped in shock as he now pointed his demon finger at me and hollered.
"Bu- but- but, that was-"
"That was to save his life, I know." Mayor Mocha nodded in Natsu's direction. His voice was calm when he interrupted me. Phew! I guess he was angry at me but found it forgivable, given the circumstances.
Then he spoke again, this time gratitude in his voice. "And in return, you all saved our lives. It would be shameless of us to ask, and we can't do anything if you refuse, but take it as repaying us for destroying the map? Please! We acknowledge you as powerful mages, so please help us find the cure!" He bowed to us, and everyone in the village behind him followed.
I was taken aback and did not know what to make of this situation. I looked at Erza, Gray and Natsu. Erza was in deep thought. Gray looked serious, but he had not said anything throughout.
"I understand." Natsu said and he stood up. The villagers' heads looked up, and I, too, looked at him in surprise.
"True, we would damage our reputation if we didn't follow through a mission." Gray said as he got up as well.
"That's right. Stand up, everyone. We would have done so even if you hadn't asked." Everyone rose to their feet at Erza's words.
This is what it's like to be a Fairy Tail mage huh? I smiled at that thought.
"Thank you." Mayor Mocha said. "I am about 150 years old now. If I were to enter the Forbidden Temple, I may not make it out alive. But even so, I would like to bring you there."
"Eh?" was my response.
"Are you sure, old man? I'm sure we can manage by ourselves." Gray said.
"Yes. As the current head, it is my responsibility that the precious heirloom was stolen and destroyed. So to seek the forgiveness of my fellow villagers, I want to ascertain for myself whether or not this cure exists once and for all." He replied. Then he turned to his people and said, "If I do not return, it would mean that I am dead and that the cure does not exist! In that case, I would like to appoint, Bobo, my son, as the next chief head, and I order EVERYONE to cease the meaningless search for the cure!"
"Very well. I respect your decision." Erza said. And that was that.
We arrived at the Forbidden Temple and climbed a long flight of stairs that led to the main entrance and paused there. There was no door, just a rectangular arc. Above the door was a stone, with a red crescent on it. Beside the arc were two cylindrical pillars which also had the red crescent on them.
"It's also known as the Temple of the Moon." Mayor Mocha offered an explanation.
"Hmm. Let's enter." Erza said.
When we walked through the arc, we entered a spacious dilapidated place with collapsed bits of stone all over the floors. Some tree roots had managed to grow through the cracks of the stone bricks. We all looked around freely.
"Waaah…" I marveled, amazed to be inside such an ancient landmark.
"It's so big!" Happy exclaimed.
"It's my first time being in here too. I'm surprised we have such a huge temple!" Mayor Mocha remarked.
"Then? How should we go about searching for the treasure?" Erza asked.
I was about to suggest something but a deep unknown voice called, "That's as far as you will go!" The monster?!
Straightaway, we looked where the voice had come from. It was not the monster. On a raised rundown platform, there stood six individuals.
"Prepare yourselves, Fairy Tail!" A male in armour forewarned. The deep voice from before did not belong to him.
"From here on, we will not allow you to pass!" A third male spoke, his voice different from the first two.
Among the six, four of them were males: two I've never seen before, another looked familiar and the last was Byro Cracy. The other two were females- Coco and Mary Hughes!
Argh, Zentopia…!
[To be continued…]
Hey guys! :D Sorry for the wait, but here's the new chapter! How was it? Please tell me what you think and leave your reviews! ^^
Oh, btw, a Magic Seal is like the circle thingy that appears before the mages cast their magic... I always see it in the FT anime. I think I forgot to describe it in my first few chapters, but I'm still trying to figure out how to write this, so forgive me for that little miss!
Thank you for reading/reviewing/following/favourite-ing! ^^ Chapter 9 will be out before Christmas!
** Update: I changed it to 6 people instead of 5! Last minute decision!