Motherfucking Chapter 10: RUN
Excited to hit the double digits at last. I reckon there will be about four more chapters and an epilogue? But who knows, it may end up being shorter or longer.
Anywhoo, lovely reviewers: violetvolpe (you're nice and awesome), Elfen Children (thanks hun, I'm relieved, I don't want the story to fizzle out), SarahBloomSakura (your wish is my command), hateme101 (yay, my writing rarely does that, my sis says my writing is too angsty), animefreak3721 (thanksyou! and soz its not time for that plot secret yet, mwahah), youshouldn'tneedtoknow (you've got it, but shh, it's a secret), xXLovelyAnimeLoverXx (me being dramatic again lol, but this is when shit starts to go down), Flameflinger Girl (I'm so pleased you're still reading this story, you were one of my first reviewers!), I saw the monster in you (nice username, and mwahah), GoldenRoseTanya (I'm actually smiling so hard at your review), Kaida-Nee Alberona(I'm happy you're reading my story!), PandaGirl (that's actually so nice, you literally made my day), Tawny (thanks hun, and we'll see mwaha).
Wendy walked forward determinedly. She was on to something, she knew it. Last month she had caught the whiff of a scent, a faint, but very distinctive scent. Lucy. There was something off about the scent, but Wendy was sure that this was a lead. They had searched for their friend for six long years, and Wendy was going to bring her back this time. Everyone at Fairy Tail was depending on her, and she would not fail. The Day the Magic Died had changed Wendy; opponents just didn't scare her as much as they used to. She was stronger, she was fiercer, and she was more ruthless. Although still did not enjoy violence, she was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her nakama. She was prepared to kill if that was what it took to bring Lucy back. She would not fail her guild members again.
Wendy's flashback:
Someone had hit her with something - a spell or an object - she was too disorientated to tell. She couldn't see, and her coordination was off, so she staggered around, colliding with people or rubble, but not, she hoped fervently, dead bodies.
Crashes, shouts and loud bangs echoed around her, but she was alone. Despite her disorientation, Wendy had the wits to understand that she was only going to be a hindrance to her guild members in her current state. Unable to see she did the only thing she could and sunk to the floor, where she lay very still, playing dead.
The screams and bangs continued, sometimes seeming to get louder or quieter. The noises felt like they were reverberating inside her skull, and her vision still hadn't returned.
Wendy felt weak and pathetic, here her guild was in the middle of a life threatening battle, and all she could do was try not to get in the way. 'Please let them be okay,' she thought desperately, 'please let them all be okay'. Sometime later, she couldn't tell how long, cheers - at least, that's what she thought they were - erupted around her. Then there was shouting, shouting that seemed very close to her. Someone shook her and she opened her eyes, though her sight had not returned. The person lifted her up, whether friend or foe, she could not tell.
She knew not what was going on around her until cold hands touched her ears and a buzz of magic flashed through her. She instantly felt less dizzy and she began to hear sounds more distinctly, patches of light also returned to her vision.
"What's wrong with her Porlyusica?" someone whispered.
"A very old spell," grumbled the healer, "nasty, it upsets the sensory nerve pathways."
"Can you fix it?"
"I can assist recovery; the disorientation will end as soon as I reset the pathways. And as a dragon slayer, her hearing should recover quickly. However her sight may never be the same again."
A silence followed that speech, and the people near her left to tend to other victims. Wendy was forced to lie there, while her hearing grew steadily clearer, able to hear her guild mates moans of pain, but unable to help them.
Tears formed in her unseeing eyes, she was their healer, she needed to help them! But all she could do was lie there uselessly. She had failed them all.
After the battle she had lain there helplessly for hours, able to hear but unable to help. It was the single most painful experience of her life and she had vowed after that day never to fail her guildmates like that again. After the battle her vision had slowly returned, but Porlyusica was right, it wasn't the same. She could no longer see things with the same clarity, and the edges of her peripheral vision were blurred. But like most others at the guild, Wendy had absolutely refused to let her handicap hold her back.
Wendy's relief at reaching the end of the forest she had been hiking through for the last month put an end to her dark train of thought. Out in full view of the sun, every prospect seemed brighter. And Lucy's scent was stronger. Before her stretched barren and exposed fields, so Wendy carefully examined her surroundings before stepping away from the obscurity of the forest. As she scanned the horizon she paused momentarily. The sky straight ahead of her was not blue, or any other sky colour. It was blank, white, like a sheet of paper. Wendy blinked forecfully, wondering if her damaged vision was decieving her. She decided to get closer. The sky in front of her remained white. Getting closer she sensed something. Magic. There was an intense magical force in front of her, obscuring whatever lay beyond. A barrier, Wendy thought. It seemed like something only a dark guild would have need of. Wendy started to run forwards, Charla shooting like a bullet above her head. This was it, she told herself. A dark guild's lair and Lucy's scent, this was it!
Her thoughts were racing, but her triumph was interrupted when she was about fifty feet from the barrier-thing. A loud noise about twenty feet behind her, brought her hurtling to a halt. She spun around sharply to see that a large group of hostile-looking mages had grouped behind her. They all wore the same uniform and the same expressions on their faces. And even if Wendy had not recognised the guild mark from that day six years ago, their intention was obvious.
Charla exclaimed in horror, while a wave or horror and hopelessness suddenly enveloped the dragon slayer.
Half the guild was chatting cheerfully together while Levy, Gajeel and a few others were tending to the wounded and stocking up on food. Erza had just left to look for Natsu and the kids, getting anxious, since they had been gone for almost two hours.
Macao chuckled as she left, "I don't think Erza trusts Natsu with the children."
Alzack laughed, "I don't think she trusts anyone with them, and honestly after finding out that they're Lucy's kids, can you blame her?"
"I guess, but this is Natsu," said Romeo enthusiastically, "he's super powerful and he's great with kids."
"True that, he'll make a great dad one day," interjected Gildarts.
After that comment, the guild got a bit quiet, the feeling that they were all missing something important dawning on them. "Wait a second," said Cana slowly, "So Lucy has these kids..assuming that they are biologically hers then...who's the father?!"
Natsu was exhausted; he had chased the kids through the forest for an hour. For people with such little legs, they had some incredible speed. After much persuasion and bribery, he had managed to convince them not to tell Erza about the bed. He doubted she would believe the real reason he had taken it.
The kids skipped cheerfully in front of him, the little girl kept shooting him smug glances. When they were almost at the guild, they ran into Erza and Scarlett chose that moment to demand that they stop at small cake stall.
"Natsu's paying!" said Neil cheerfully.
"That's generous of you Natsu," said Erza approvingly.
The kids shot Natsu another smug look. He silently promised revenge. Buying Erza a cake would certainly empty his wallet.
When they entered the guild everyone suddenly stopped talking, and then whispers broke out. Natsu looked from face to face; some were shaking their heads while others were nodding. "Oi what are you all talking about?"
"nooothing," came the unconvincing reply.
Frustrated Natsu looked at Erza, who looked amused. "What are they talking about? Is it something about me?"
"It concerns you, yes" replied Erza, an infuriating smile growing on her face.
"Tell me!"
"No."
"Why not?!"
"It's more fun this way."
"Why you-" exclaimed Natsu, but was interrupted by Scarlet, who was trying to reclaim Erza's attention.
The servant watched the Fairy Tail mage fight. He had been sent to collect her, but his master had instructed him to let the hunters attack her first. Though the servant knew that his master didn't really believe that they could kill her, in fact he suspected that his master just wanted the mage to get rid of the 'worthless' hunters for him. His master despised weakness, as well he should. He watched the mage carefully, she was not wasting time.
The grass around her was thick with blood. Men and women with blank faces surrounded her. She had halved their numbers, but there was probably still fifty odd left. The servant sometimes regretted his ability to sense emotion; as he was hit with a sharp jolt of pain whenever a hunter died. Though they did not show it, they were afraid of the mage. She was not afraid of them however. She wiped blood from her forehead, no longer able to tell if it was her enemy's or her own. Her heart pounded, but she knew she was much stronger than she once was, she felt that she could handle the hunters.
The white exceed hovered near her right ear, trying to assist when she could.
Several hunters attempted to blast her with magic, but the exceed yanked her a good twenty feet in the air, clear of their attacks. She blasted them from above, and a group of them crumpled under the weight of her more powerful attack. The others seemed to accept their impending doom and attempted to use themselves as bombs. The girl scoffed. How often were had she seen this tactic?
When the last mage fell she sighed impatiently, when were her real opponents going to arrive? This was his cue, the servant approached her.
"Getting impatient are we, angel?"
"What did you call me?"
"You use the magic of the heavens," he said, by way of an explanation.
"I don't see how that concerns you."
The servant sighed sadly, "ahh angel, if only that were true." He started to walk towards her, stepping upon the corpses of his fallen comrades as if they weren't there. "Unfortunately, milord requires me to take your life."
An immense power began to emanate from the man. His opponent stared him down. Offense. Defence. Two blasts. Two blocks. Dodged. Parried. Deafening cracks of magical attacks against magical shields. They matched each other well. The exceed hovered well out of the way of the fight. These attacks were deadly. No mistakes. Suddenly the girl unleashed an attack. He braced himself to deflect it, but to his surprise she aimed not at him, but at the ground. It cracked and he staggered sideways as the ground shifted. The roof of the experimental facility was visible through the cracks in the ground.
He felt the girl's triumph and then horror as more mages emerged from the building. They were all as powerful as him, and the girl could tell. She gritted her teeth and shouted to the exceed, "go to the guild, tell them… tell them I've done it at last!"
The servant felt vaguely annoyed, didn't the girl realise she was going to die? What did she think she had done?
The exceed didn't move. The other powerful servant mages helped him batter the girl. The force of their magic sent her staggering and she shouted for the exceed to leave. The exceed's despair momentarily overwhelmed the servant, before it speed off north. He sent a blast at it but the angel girl threw up a shield to protect it. He shrugged, let the stupid cat escape if she wanted. Even if it got to her guild, Fairy Tail was too far from this place for reinforcements to arrive in time. He stood back while his fellow mages forced the girl to her knees. Finally, this had all been way too much trouble.
He pulled his mobile lacrima out of his pocket, "milord, the fuel is in our possession. I shall proceed with the plan."
Nine days later..
The mood within Fairy Tail, which had been so cheerful, had dropped to rock bottom. The two children were staring at the clock. It was one minute to twelve. In one minute, the time in which their mother said she would catch up with them would expire. She had never once broken this promise, if she didn't come now what did that mean? Tick tock tick tock tick tock. The clock clanged loudly, it was twelve. Time was up and Lucy still hadn't arrived. The guild sat in silence. No one moved.
"She's just a little late, that's all." Said Erza, sounding strained.
Natsu tried hard to believe her, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. The children were on the verge of tears. Fifteen minutes late. Half an hour. An Hour. The guild sat silently while time ticked slowly away.
At two o'clock the children burst into tears, "she's not coming!"
"You don't know that," said Erza firmly, although her nails were digging holes into the bar counter.
"They've caught her!" said Neil fearfully.
"You don't know-"
Something small and white hurtled through the guild doors, it was going so fast that it almost collided with the bar counter.
"Ch-charla?!" exclaimed Happy in astonishment.
To everyone who follows and reviews, I am so grateful. And every review I read always gives me a burst of motivation and happiness.
This chapter was written to 'Run' by Kill it Kid.
Evil laughs can never be overused.
I apologise for taking so long to update, and for my punctuation, I know it's terrible.
NOW KEEP READING MY STORY OR, OR...well nothing will happen but I'll be sad