So, funny story that really wasn't that funny for me, my computer broke only a few days after I posted the last chapter, so I couldn't do anything in regards to this new one. Sorry, but it honestly wasn't my fault this time. Now I have a brand new laptop and nothing will keep me from finishing this story! (Besides my own laziness) I made this chapter extra long to make up for a faulty electronic device. Please review, good or bad comments welcome! Enjoy :D
Disclaimer: Same as the last 9 chapters
Now, on to the 10th chapter!
Lucy's POV:
"I'm leaving the guild, today." Lucy said swiftly, not giving herself a chance to back out.
Master Makarov gave her a look of surprise, which was quickly replaced by understanding and, to her dismay, relief. "I am surprise that it took you so long to say that. Most of us here were wondering when you would finally leave, when you would realize that everyone only thought of you as a replacement for our Lisanna."
Without a moment's hesitation he waved his hand and her pink Fairy Tail guild mark slowly vanished from her right hand. She watched the entire time, the pain in her chest only adding to the tears that were now streaming down her face.
"I don't want anyone to know I'm gone." She choked out, not meeting his eyes, "So I'll be leaving straight from my house. Even though I was never really part of your family, I'll still miss all of you." With a final bow of her head she left his office and walked through the main part of the guild.
She had tears streaming down her face and the pain almost made her double over, but she didn't stop walking and no one made an attempt to look at her let alone talk to her. Lucy knew that she was making the right choice, that these people were no longer the ones who took her in and accepted her despite her flaws and her difficult past. Even after Lisanna came back everyone still cared about Lucy, but she had to ruin it by letting her feelings for Natsu slip. She should have never told Levi-chan anything, even though at the time Lucy thought she was her best friend, but apparently that was just another place Lucy was keeping warm for the take-over mage. The moment Lucy was out of the guild and walking down the streets she felt a shimmer in the air beside her and turned to see Loke walking beside her, his eyes filled with rage.
"Honestly Loke, I'm really not in the mood-"
"Listen! I don't have much time!" He snapped, making her give him an annoyed side-ways look, but seeing the look of cold fury on his face made her stop walking and turn to him, "This isn't-" He doubled over in pain and she froze, looking at him in shock.
"Loke, what's wrong?" She gasped, crouching down beside him.
"Shadow… Heart… Help…" He gasped out before his image shimmered and vanished back to the spirit world.
"What was that about?" A familiar voice spoke up behind her, making her shoulders tense up.
Lucy stood up and slowly turned to face Lisanna, whose eyes were wide with shock from most likely witnessing what just happened to Loke. Her arms were clasped in front of her and she had a nervous sort of air around her.
"Is something the matter, Lisanna?" Lucy asked, trying to hide how angry she felt towards the innocent girl at the moment.
Lisanna bit her lip and shifter her weight, "I overheard what you and Master were talking about, how you're leaving the guild today and how…" She trailed off.
"How I was just a replacement for you?" Lucy finished bluntly, her chocolate eyes cold.
Lisanna cast her eyes to her feet without saying anything and nodded.
"If everyone in the guild is thinking that it's pretty obvious that it is the truth, but I'm not mad at you." Lucy forced herself to tack on.
At that Lisanna's head whipped up at that, her pale eyes wide with surprise. "But this is all because of me!" She blurted out.
Lucy managed a smile, "To be honest, it's not your fault, it's mine. I joined a guild that didn't want me for me, I lulled myself into a false fairy tale. I… I fell for the wrong guy." She said awkwardly, and Lisanna bit her lip again. "I don't hold any of this against you, so you don't need to blame yourself."
Relief was so evident in Lisanna's eyes it almost made Lucy flinch in guilt, "So does that mean you won't leave anymore?" She asked hopefully.
Lucy shook her head, "This isn't my home anymore, so I need to go find a new one. I'm really happy you're back, Lisanna, because the guild really needs you."
Lisanna's eyes filled with tears, "I really did consider you a close friend." She murmured.
The pain that Lucy had all but forgotten about came back with a vengeance, making her cry out and fall to one knee.
"Lucy, are you okay?" Lisanna gasped, running up to her.
Lucy nodded and stood up, taking quick and painful breaths, "I'm fine, but I need to go." She hesitated, "Can you do me one favor though?"
Lisanna nodded eagerly so she went on, "Can you say good bye to Natsu and the others for me? I honestly don't know what they would say to me right now; if they would want me to stay or not, but I want them to know that I will always think of them as my family." She held back tears while she spoke.
Lisanna nodded and surprised Lucy by hugging her, "Everyone will miss you, I know they will." With a final teary eyed smile she took off back towards the guild.
Lucy stood there for a moment, then turned and continued her trek home. She couldn't remember why she could ever hate that girl, because even in her worst nightmares she would guess that Lisanna would always be sweet and unbelievably kind to anyone. As she began to pack her important stuff in a giant suitcase she remembered Loke's sudden appearance and state. It felt as if he was trying to warn Lucy about something, but she didn't have enough information to put anything together. She put down her stuff and grabbed his key.
"Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" She called out, but nothing happened.
His lack of appearing tugged at something in Lucy's memory, but she quickly dismissed it when her heart gave a painful thud that made her gasp. Shaking her head and gritting her teeth she finished packing the essentials and she left, forcing herself not to look back. She walked through the streets of Magnolia for the last time, a small smile on her face as she passed all the little shops and restaurants that she always went to. She began the last leg of going up the hill, and when she reached it she just couldn't resist one glance back. Lucy took in the beauty of the city that had been her home for the last year or so now, watching how the mid-day sun reflected off the water and shinned off Fairy Tail's guild as if showing off its true magnificence. Even more tears leaked down as she whispered a good bye, turning to leave the city for the last time. Agony flared through her chest and down her spine, going up her neck and blooming through her head. She screamed in pain, dropping her luggage and falling to her knees. Her heart was going out of control, sending wave after wave of horrible pain throughout her entire body. Grabbing her head and screaming again, the pain began to overwhelm her. Distantly she could hear herself screaming Natsu's name before everything went black.
Levi's POV:
"Wendy!" Levi gasped, taking in the unbelievable scene in front of her.
The side of the guild had been completely blown up, rock and concrete everywhere. It must have been due to the magic that the so called Kyro possessed, but that's not what amazed her. Wendy was standing in front of Lu-chan's bed, arms raised to the now absent wall as the air surged around them, creating some sort of wind barrier to protect them. Levi had no idea that Wendy could cast such a strong spell, but by the way that her body was trembling was proof enough that it was taking a lot out of the youngest dragon slayer.
"Wendy, are you alright?" Gajeel demanded, yelling over the roaring of the wind as he walked up beside her.
"I felt a shift in the air pressure, and I barely had enough time to throw up a protective wall before the explosions went off. They almost killed Lucy-san!" She yelled back, panting hard.
Gajeel grinned, "Way to go, kid. This is some high level magic you just performed." It was rare for Gajeel to give someone a compliment, but there it was.
"So that means Kyro is on the other side of that wind-wall, and he may even have Tarrel and Pursek with him." Luke's voice made Levi jump and swivel her head to look at him. Apparently he had followed them in here when the explosion went off, though she didn't understand why Elfman and Max didn't stop him. Amazing body guards those guys were.
"Two of you should stay here and guard Bunny Girl, so that means it will be three on three." Before Wendy could protest, Gajeel swept on, "You need to stay behind and keep her alive, I can smell death on her and that means she is running out of time."
"These guys want to hurt Lu-chan, so I'm going to fight." Levi said, glaring at Gajeel as if daring him to say something against her.
He only gave her a long look, his crimson eyes unreadable, before he nodded.
"I'll fight. I know how they move and all of their spells so it will give me the upper hand." Luke said, but his eyes were hesitant.
"And what makes you think we can trust that you won't just turn on us during the battle?" Jet demanded, and Droy was glaring at him.
"Because he knows that if he goes against us, he's going to prison." Levi snapped, running out of patients with her team mates, "You both just stay here and guard Lu-chan and keep Wendy safe as well. Gajeel, Luke and I will defeat them."
"I like this side of you, Shorty." Gajeel said with a grin.
Levi felt her cheeks heat up but she kept her head high, "Wendy, put down the wind wall and we will deal with them." The three of them walked right up to the wall. "Ready… Now!"
Wendy dispersed the wind wall and instantly ran back to Lu-chan. Droy threw some seeds on the ground to give them some sort of vine barrier in case more explosions were set off. Gajeel stepped menacingly forward, Levi right at his side and Luke following only a few steps behind. In front of them stood two people, both wearing dark blue overalls like Luke but the burlier one was wearing a brown belt while the short and lanky one with the dangerous looking sword had a grey one on.
"So you're the iron dragon slayer I have heard about. Rumor has it you did quite a number on Fairy Tail back in your Phantom Lord days. Why help them when you can help us destroy their guild. Don't you want revenge?" Brown belt all but laughed, a hungry sort of glint in his eyes.
Gajeel snorted, "That's the weakest battle taunt I have ever heard, and destroy Fairy Tail? You couldn't even take down the gun maniac's kid."
The big guy only smirked.
"Watch it, Kyro can set an explosion off right here if he wanted to. You may be fine, but what about Levi?" Luke said under his breath, but the sound of his voice made both of those guys turn and look at him in disgust.
"I always knew you were too weak to be in our group, let alone Ghoul Spirit." Grey belt snarled, grabbing the hilt of his sword, "Both you and Tarrel should have died a long time ago."
Levi noticed Luke's body go rigid, his eyes widened as he faced the smaller guy.
"Where is Tarrel?" He demanded, "Pursek, where's my cousin?!"
An animalistic grin spread across Pursek's face, "Dead."
Luke stumbled and Levi moved to support him so he wouldn't fall.
"You bastards! He was your ally!" Gajeel hollered, hands balling into fists at his sides.
"He spoke against Dominik! He wanted us to just walk away and let him kill the girl by himself. He was soft, and for his disloyalty, he paid the ultimate price." Pursek yelled right back, "I cut him down myself."
With an enraged cry Luke pulled away from Levi's grasp and charged Pursek, a magic circle appearing over his hand and he swung at Pursek with a flaming fist. As if on cue, Gajeel charged at Kyro with his usual laugh, his eyes shining at the prospect of a battle where he didn't have to hold back. Levi wasn't worried about Gajeel, because she knew that he would never lose to someone who threatened their guild, so she kept an eye on Luke. Every swing he threw at Pursek was dodged with grace, shocking Levi on just how fast this guy was. With Luke's next wild swing Pursek ducked and swept Luke's legs from under him, sending him crashing painfully to the ground. Levi knew that Pursek wanted him dead, and he was about to get his chance. Right as he raised his sword Levi ran towards them, using her magic to save him.
"Solid Script, barrier!"
A barrier made of magic encircled Luke, causing Pursek's sword to bounce harmlessly off of him. Pursek stepped back, glaring furiously at her.
"You bitch! I'll just kill you first!" He screeched, charging at her.
"Shrimp, get out of here!" Gajeel yelled, dodging another small explosion from Kyro who looked to be getting worn out from using so much magic.
"Roar of the Light Dragon!"
A laser blast of light came out of the tree line and blasted Pursek away, hitting him so hard he went flying through a tree and did not stand up again. Seeing his comrade defeated with just one hit, Kyro went to escape into the trees and Gajeel was staring at Pursek, to much in shock to notice.
"Ice Make: Floor!"
The ground instantly became a skating rink, and taken by surprise Kyro fell face first on to the frozen ground. He tried to stand up and Gray came sprinting into view, his eyes terrifying.
"Ice Make: Hammer!" He yelled, smashing Kyro with the frozen object until he was bleeding and unconscious.
Levi was so relieved to see him, and she felt even better when Juvia came into view with Romeo, Sting and Rogue right there as well as all of the Exceeds.
Sting had his signature smirk of disdain on as he looked at the two unconscious men, "If you're that weak you have no right to even challenge a little kid!" He snorted.
Luke eyed them warily, "Friends of yours?" He asked under his breath.
Levi shifted awkwardly, "I guess you could say that." She whispered back.
"Juvia and I will tie these guys up until the Magic Council gets here, and Rogue you need to get to Lucy-nee right now!" Romeo said, walking over to one of the guys.
That snapped her back to reality, "Please, Rogue! I don't think Lu-chan has long, please help her!" She practically begged him.
"Where's Dominik?" Rogue demanded, looking right into her eyes.
"Natsu and Erza are fighting him in the guild right now, but please save Lu-chan first! She'll die if you don't help her right now!" Levi yelled at him.
Rogue stared at her for so long Levi thought that Gray had frozen him. Right when she was about to yell at him or even slap him Rogue finally nodded.
"Okay, take me to Lucy-san."
Levi took off sprinting back to the destroyed wall leading into the infirmary, the Twin Dragons right beside her. When Droy spotted them he instantly took away the vine wall so they could get close to Lu-chan. When Levi saw her she gasped in horror and took a step back. Lu-chan was so pale, her skin whiter than snow. Those black vines had closed in on the skin right over her heart and Levi could barely see her breathing.
"Her skin is like ice. At first I thought she was really dead, but she still has a pulse, though that's fading really fast." Jet reported, his eyes wide with worry.
When Rogue made it to her side, his usually bleak eyes widened in shock. He put a hand on her stomach and after a moment shook his head. "I'm amazed that she is still alive. This might not be what you want to hear, but it may be too late for me to save her."
"Try anyways!" Levi screamed, tears falling freely now.
Rogue stayed silent as he put both hands over the discoloured stab wound and closed his eyes. A moment later black mist began to creep out of the wound, getting thicker and thicker with every passing moment. Rogue's brow furrowed as he concentrated harder, and Levi muffled another gasp behind her hand as she watched the black vines began to recede at an agonizingly slow pace.
Come on, Lu-chan, keep fighting this! I know you can pull through this.
Erza's POV:
The only time that Erza had been truly scared was when she was a child slave and human sacrifice back at the Tower of Heaven, when she and her friends were forced to build the R-System in a feeble attempt to bring back the Black Wizard Zeref. With those days long behind her she had never feared anything again, she has only been feared by anything and anyone that angered her or threatened her family. At this very moment though, watching the battle take place in front of her, she truly felt scared. Not because their opponent was powerful, which he truly wasn't a threat to any of them in the means of power, but because of the look in Natsu's eyes. When the battle first began Erza fought alone side Natsu to take down Dominik, which was definitely a new experience because he continuously shifted into different mages he had killed who possessed different arrays of magic, but because she knew that he had murdered all of those people for power alone only fueled her anger. No matter what mage he would shift into though he was never strong enough to take them on. Erza and Natsu walked in for the final blow when Dominik made a fatal mistake. Apparently he knew that he was no match for her and an enraged dragon slayer, so as he was figuratively backed against a wall he changed into an image of Lucy.
That was enough to startle Erza and make her take a few steps back, but Natsu stood frozen to the spot, his eyes hidden behind his bangs.
"Please, Natsu stop! You're hurting me!" He sobbed in Lucy's voice, her brown eyes pleading at him and filled with fear and pain.
Even though Erza knew it wasn't her friend, it still made her drop her sword and back away. There was a tense moment of silence as Natsu just stood there, not moving and not speaking as Lucy/Dominik begged for help. Flames licked at Natsu's feet, going up and up his body until he was completely covered in fire. Erza's eyes widened and her mouth fell open when scales appeared on his arms and face and when he lifted his head he could see his eyes narrowed into emerald slits, lips pulled back to reveal dragon fangs.
"He attained Dragon Force, even without consuming powerful magic or any fire." Erza said in awe.
Dominik's eyes widened in pure terror, his shape-shifting of Lucy cancelling out and he turned to run out the door, only to freeze when Natsu was in front of him again, moving so fast that no one even noticed him take a step. With a single-minded fury Natsu began to beat him, no holding back and no regrets. He kicked him and punched him and burned him until Dominik was screaming out in agony; blood, cuts and bruises decorating every inch of his body. That's when Erza realized that Natsu was going to kill him without a second thought. She knew that she had to stop him, but fear kept her feet firmly planted to the ground. Natsu stood over the bloodied body of Dominik, no hesitations in his cold green eyes. His fist went aflame and he lunged forward with a feral snarl, going for the kill. His fist froze inches from Dominik's face, the flame going out and the scales slowly vanishing from his skin. After a few agonizing moments Natsu pulled away, his eyes back to normal but he was frowning.
"You deserve to die, but it won't be at my hands." He said so quietly that Erza almost missed it.
Natsu finally looked up at her, and a jolt went through her when she noticed that Natsu looked older, an air of power around him, and he just looked worn out.
"The Magic Council should be here any moment. They are going to question all of us on what happened, but because they don't belong to a guild and they attacked us with the intent to kill they should take all of the fault."
Mirajane's voice made Erza jump, and she silently cursed herself for being so out of character. They all looked up as Gray came out of the infirmary, giving a low whistle when he saw the near-death state that Dominik was in.
"Can't say he didn't deserve that." He said, mostly to himself.
"Gray? What happened? Did you get Rogue? How's Lucy?"
Questions were being thrown at him left and right until Erza yelled at everyone to get them to shut up and let him speak.
"Rogue is healing her right now, and Sting helped take out those other two guys." He began.
"I thought there were three of them." Lisanna spoke up.
Gray's eyes darkened, "The tracker killed Tarrel because he didn't want to fight us. He was Luke's cousin."
Lisanna's eyes flew wide and she covered her mouth. Natsu walked right up to Gray, his eyes desperate. "Gray, how is Lucy?"
He hesitated, "Rogue said he would do everything possible, but…"
Natsu was done listening after that. He nodded quickly to Gray before brushing past him and jogging into the infirmary.
Erza cleared her throat, "Let's get Dominik tied up and bring the other two up here as well. We have a lot of explaining to do to the Magic Council."
Natsu's POV:
Once Gray had told him that Rogue was finally here, he didn't need to hear any more. With a curt nod he refrained himself from full on sprinting into the infirmary, but when he made it inside he felt a low growl slip out his throat. Rogue was standing over Lucy as black mist looking stuff seeped out of her wound. The first thing he thought of was future Rogue killing future Lucy with his magic, thus his growl. If Rogue had heard him he didn't even break his concentration, but Natsu's growl alerted Sting, whose head snapped up to stare at him.
Sting's eyes darkened as if he guessed why Natsu looked so suspicious, "Rogue is never going to turn into that guy, I won't let him, and right now he is doing everything he can to save Lucy-san." He said quietly.
Rogue suddenly took a step back and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes to show how exhausted he was from using so much magic. "I got all traces of his shadow magic out of her, but that wound won't be able to be healed with magic and it will leave a scar."
"But… is she going to live?" Natsu barely managed over a whisper.
A small smile crept on Rogue's face, "Yes, she is going to live, but I don't think she is going to be waking up for a few days while her body heals."
Levi let out a cry of happiness, hugging a shocked Gajeel before running out of the infirmary screaming the good news to everyone within ear shot. Natsu let out a breath he felt as if he had been holding since she was hurt, and then smiled at Rogue and Sting.
"Thank you, thank you so much for saving her." He said, bowing his head respectfully to the Sabertooth mages.
Rogue's eyes suddenly narrowed dangerously, 'What happened to Dominik?"
Natsu wrung his hands together uncomfortably, remembering what had just happened moments ago and how he had completely lost control after he accessed Dragon Force, "I… I may have almost killed him."
Gajeel just shook his hand and chuckled something about him being a monster, making Natsu flinch slightly.
Rogue nodded, looking very satisfied by that answer while Sting full on grinned, "I expect us to have a rematch battle as soon as possible! But for now I get it that you would want to stay by her side until she wakes up. See ya later."
Natsu looked at them in surprise, "You're leaving already?"
Rogue spoke up this time, "We need to get back to our guild, and Yukino is waiting for me."
Natsu frowned but he didn't push it anymore. After a few swift farewells and request that they be informed when Lucy woke up so Natsu would fight Sting and Gajeel would have a match with Rogue they left with their own Exceeds. Natsu turned to see that Happy was curled up beside Lucy's head on the pillow and was staring at her face with huge anxious eyes.
"Lucy, wake up…" He murmured.
Natsu walked over and patted his head, taking a seat beside her bed. "Don't worry, buddy, Luce is tough. I bet she is going to be up and yelling at us by tomorrow." He joked.
This caused the blue cat to smile before he curled up and closed his eyes, purring against Lucy's neck. Wendy was hugging Charle as she twirled around happily, laughing.
"I'm so happy that she's going to be okay!" Wendy sang, giggling to herself again as her eyes shinned on.
Before Natsu could say anything, Levi came back into the room, looking completely subdued after what she had just been doing.
"Umm, Natsu? I'd hate to pull you away from Lu-chan, but the Rune Knights are here and they want to talk to you."
Natsu eyes flew wide and his first instinct was to run away, but that didn't exactly work so well the last few times. With a final glance at Lucy he got up reluctantly and followed Levy out the door, Gajeel close behind them as they went to give their statement to the very people who hated their guild. This was going to be fun.