Chapter 11
The morning after, I was in the twilight zone, drifting in and out of sleep. Lucy was curled up on my chest, her hair sprawled out over the bedding, the first rays of morning light filtering in through the curtains. I would have been content to lay there forever, in the moments before I was fully conscious, I was at peace. As per fucking usual the universe was playing with me, teasing me with the possibilities that could never become my reality. It was only a moment, a brief blip in the great eternal expanse that was time, only there was my life permitted to be perfect.
I was jolted into full awareness. There was a loud destructive crash that came from somewhere inside the guild hall, promptly followed by someone shouting of orders. Before Lucy was even up right, I was out of bed and pulling on a random pair of dirty jeans that were on the floor. Her eyes where large with worry. "What was that!?" She gasped.
"I don't know." I frowned. "Stay here." I ordered as I slipped on a T-shirt and slid out the door. I was jogging halfway down the hall before I head the click of a door closing behind me. Begrudgingly Lucy hadn't listened, she had put on clothes, and was running to catch up. Before I could yell at her to go back, Laxus had rounded the corner, panting, by the look on his face I knew to expect the worst.
"Natsu!" He exclaimed. "They've found us."
I nodded in understanding. The padding of Lucy's footsteps told me that she'd caught up to us. "Who'd they bring?" I asked, frowning in all seriousness.
Laxus was
off a dark haired woman with crazy eyebrows, who was countering Erza's double swords with fists full of some type of holographic magic. As I watched, Juvia had jumped in to help Erza, capsuling still trying to catch his breath. "Midnight, Sting, Yukino, I think Racer, Minerva and… Brain… Natsu… there's somethings something off about him… I can't…"
I didn't miss Lucy's sharp intake of breath at the mention of Sting. I wasn't surprised, we had his brother hostage after all. "I'll take care of Brain." I told Laxus, and I was about to take off before Laxus pivoted to address Lucy. I halted. Cold. He better not…
"Lucy, I know you're not technically part of the guild yet, but we'd really appreciate your help today. We out number them, but it still won't be easy."
"No!" I growled at him. "Laxus! She's not ready!"
"She's got three gold keys Natsu. She is ready. Besides, it's her choice!"
Lucy ignored me again and nodded once to Laxus. "Of course. I'll fight." A determined look set upon her features, and she squared her shoulders. I turned to Lucy.
"You don't have to do this Lucy. There's no shame in being scared, this isn't your…"
"Natsu…" She said, icily. "You guys risked a lot to come save me. What kind of wizard would I be if I turned my back now?"
A huge hole had been blasted through the roof of the main guild hall. Splinters of wood, drywall and plaster covered all surfaces. The scene we walked into was total chaos. Erza was using two swords to fend the woman in a swirling sphere of water. Grey and Gajeel dueling Sting and a recently liberated Rogue. Mira had transformed into bizarre, sensual demon, her left leg already injured. She was fighting who appeared to me to be a young Tim Curry, who was using a suspicious kind of green energy. A girl about my age, I recognized as Yukino was using her key Scorpio, who was sending a sand storm in Wendy's direction. Wendy countered he attack with her own gust of wind, rending the sand neutral as it rained down onto the floor. Lisanna was facing an enemy I couldn't see, she was swiping at flashes of red and yellow with her cat paws, hissing as a slice somehow appeared on her cheek. The most horrifying of all however, Jellal and Gildarts, facing a stacked man whose rough age was hard to identify. He had the body of a bodybuilder, but his face was leathery and wrinkled, the shoulder length silvery hair that framed his face gave him a gaunt, ghostly appearance. Most startling of wall was his eyes, they shone out of his face like lanterns, a blood red.
Gildarts grunted, he pounded the ground with his fists sending a shockwave towards the terrifying man that had to have been the man Laxus referred to as Brain. I could see what Laxus meant, there was something off about him. His eyes, they didn't seem right, but it was also his movements. They seemed too calculated, programed rather than thought of. Gildarts shock wave rippled through the guilds hardwood floors, tossing furniture in its wake. As the wave approached Brain, he simply flicked a hand upwards in front of him, redirecting the wave upwards, splintering the beam Erza was balancing on. Luckily Erza thought fast and grabbed hold of some more railing above her head, before the beam she was standing on crashed to the floor. Brain retaliated with green and orange whip-like tentacles that Jellal blocked with a galaxy patterned force field that shielded the attack from himself and Gildarts.
"Jellal! Gildarts! Go help the others!" Commanded Laxus as he and Natsu stepped in front of them to face off with Brain. "We've got it from here." Jellal nodded and trotted off to go help Grey and Gajeel who seemed to be on the wrong end of their fight. Gildarts looked reluctant, he eyed Natsu and was about to have a comeback when the Tom Curry looking motherfucker caught Mira in the face. The force threw her to the ground where she pushed herself to her hands and knees, spitting out blood. No further encouragement from Gildarts was necessary.
"You've messed with the wrong guild!" Said Natsu through a mischievous grin, as he let himself burst into flames, using the blasts from his feet to rocket launch himself at Brain, fists blazing. A frenzy of static electricity started snapping and crackling around Laxus. To my left I heard a shrill scream. Wendy.
I had been standing still too long in a kind of daze. Deer in the headlights. Frozen. Unsure of what to do or how to act. There was so much going on, I was overwhelmed. What do I do? How do I help? Then my gaze followed Wendy's scream. Scorpio had Wendy pinned to the floor with his feet, his scorpion tail cocked back, preparing to string her. Seeing Wendy in trouble, sensation returned to my limbs, my heart started to race. I unholstered by whip, lassoing it around the tip of Scorpio's tail, catching it just in time. Scorpio whipped around, furious at whoever or whatever had thwarted him. He pulled on the end of my whip, dragging me across the floor. "Why you little!" He sneered. I reached into my pouch, fumbling around of the right key, but there was no way. I would never be able to summon in time.
Rather than sting me with his tail like Scorpio had been preparing to do, a force suddenly pushed him forward and he landed in front of me flat on his face. Behind him was Wendy, who was regaining her balance after she had delivered a double kick to the back of Scorpio's head. Wendy cracked a weak smile at me and I was about to thank her when.
"YOU!" Wailed Yukina, her eyes locked on mine in sudden realization of who I was. I spun around to confront her. Wendy had to react fast, caught up again in a battle with Scorpio, she had summoned her own sword, a kind of short styled rapier with what looked like swan feathers for a guard. "YOU'RE THE BITCH THAT KILLED MY SISTER! YOU'RE THE REASON SHE'S DEAD!" Screamed Yukina. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't technically been the one to kill her, but I was the reason she was dead...in a way... I had a pouch jingling full of her dead sister's keys, keys that rightfully belonged to Yukina. Yukina's eye's where wild, her white bangs casting an ominous shadow over the rest of her face. "You'll die for what you did to my sister!" Yukina snarled. Was she right? Did I deserve to die? No, surely not. I may be the reason Angel was dead, but it's not like I planned it to happen that way. I wasn't the one who shoved a sword through her belly. It's not like I'm the one who tortured her, or kidnapped her, or let her hang by her wrists for hours. Rather than respond, I whipped out Virgo's key. An insensitive move, but the right one.
"Open! Gate of the maid!" In a tornado of golden celestial dust Virgo appeared. This was the first real time I would be using her, apart from when I summoned her to sign a contract. Virgo looked completely different for me than she did for Angel. Rather than her maid outfit containing leather and fish nets, she had on petticoat, and a white lace bow that tied her pink hair up into a bun. Summoning Virgo only seemed to infuriate Yukina more, her eyes narrowed and her scowl deepened.
To my shock she held out a second key. Wait, no. That is impossible. She can't possibly summon two spirits at once, that's unheard of! Apparently she could. She pulled a golden key from a utility belt around her waist. Pisces slithered into existence, two fish-like serpents, one black as night, the other a snowy white. A huge explosion behind me shook the entire building, windows shattering, I could hear Laxus and Natsu shouting to each other but I couldn't make out what they were saying, and I didn't have time to look. Virgo had engaged with Pisces, spinning her maces in each hand, fending off each snake they continually attended to slither up her body and constrict her. Everything turned to hell in a hand basket.
Wendy was just barely fending off Scorpio's sting attacks with the blade of her rapier. Rogue had caught Gajeel in a cage made of dark shadows, the walls of the cage shrinking smaller and smaller as Gajeel tried to gnaw at the bars with his teeth. Jelall and Grey were working together to subdue Sting. Grey had frozen his feet to the floor and Jellal was placing a force field on top of him. I couldn't see Mira or Gildarts as one of Gildarts attacks caused there to be a crater in the middle of the room and their fight was commencing down inside it. Erza was locked in a fierce sword battle in the rafters, Juvia assisting by using water attacks to slow Erza's opponent, which only seemed to be moderately helpful as all the dark haired woman had to do was emanate a blast of energy and Juvia's water would rain down on the rest of us. Lisanna was losing badly, her right eye was swollen shut and a nasty bruise was spreading on her abdomen, her attacker still too fast for me to see. We may have them out numbered, but we didn't have enough power to take on two guilds at once. We were losing, and I didn't understand what that meant. What could I do? How could I possibly tip the scale?
"L..Lucy! Princess!" Chocked Virgo as Pisces had wrapped around her, pinning her arms in place, starting to constrict her. I did the only thing I could think to do, I cracked my whip repeatedly on Pisces skin, hoping to cause enough pain that they'd slacken their grip.
"Let. Her. Go!" I pipped. I'm not sure how effective it was, but it at least turned Pisces attention to me. The white snake uncoiled itself from Virgo and headed for me instead. This was all the release Virgo needed, she hammered her mace down on black Pisces's side, the spikes of her weapon sinking into the snake's eely skin. Both Pisces started writhing around on the ground, as if they both where in pain, an earsplitting screeching from both of them.
Click
Behind me, out of the corner of my eye I could see Yukina, her arms out stretched. Slowly I turned around, the barrel of a turquoise and silver gun pointed in my face. I was greeted by the coal black expression on Yukina's features. It felt like an egg full of icy hot had been cracked down my spine. My mind racing a mile a minute. This wasn't it. This couldn't be the end. Not like this. My eye's darted around at my options. Virgo was still finishing off Pisces, Wendy had just been back handed across the floor by Scorpio, and I doubted I would be able to lash out my whip faster than a speeding bullet. I raised my hands up in a slow surrender, my brown eyes level with Yukino's hate filled ones.
A fiery comet erupted out of the sky, slamming Yukino to the ground. A shot fired out of the gun into the ceiling as Yukino hit the floor. Natsu was like a god of fire as he fearlessly ripped the gun out Yukinos grasp, he placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth, and like the beast he sometimes was, ripped the barrel of the gun off its handle with his teeth like he was pulling a piece of meat off the bone. He then spat it out and tossed the handle to the side. He bore down on me then, the look he gave me was scarier than the gun that had just been pointed at my face.
"Lucy! Go! Now!" He demanded, his entire body still engulfed by flames.
"No!" I stated stubbornly. What was he crazy!? Like I was just going to walk away!?
"Lucy…" His growl threatening.
"No Natsu! I'm not leaving! That ridiculous! Who do you think I am!?" It felt strange to have this fight in the midst of utter chaos. Grey just got pushed through a wall beside us, Wendy had just sliced the backs of Scorpio's knees, a burst of water rained down on us, sizzling into steam as it came in contact with Natsu. Natsu, however, didn't appear to be all too concerned with any of it, his eyes on me, his eyebrows pinched together. We stood there, staring at each other in a Mexican stand off for a long minute.
"NATSU!" Shouted Laxus from somewhere behind me, but I didn't dare break this stupidly little staring contest to look. What kind of person did he think I was? Obviously he thought I was the kind to runway whenever there was any real danger. The kind of person who would leave her comrades to save herself. I was a lot of things, but I certainly wasn't a coward. The fact that we were even having this conversation was and insult. Finally, he sighed and acquiesced.
"Fine." He said stiffly. "But take this!" In a swirl of golden light, he summoned his sword and shoved it into my arms.
"No Natsu! I can't! You need this…" But he was already gone. He had taken off on his rocket feet back to fight Brain with Laxus. Laxus was bleeding badly from one of his ears, but he was still fighting, using some kind of attack that caused lightening to be rained down on his enemies. Natsu added to Laxus's attack by sending some kind of magical spell in the shape of fiery hieroglyphics at Brain. Brain chose to counter Natsu's attack with his own form of purple symbols, but got hit full force with Laxus's lightening. The lightening singed some of Brains hair, but otherwise was unfazed.
My attention got pulled back to my own battle, Yukino pulled herself off the floor, her arms shaking, the right side of her face and body covered in soot. I held my whip with my left hand and Natu's katana with my right. Unlike the foil I was used to practicing with, the Katana was a little too awkward and heavy for me to wield one handed, the tip of it kept wanting to tilt downwards. Virgo and Wendy finished off Scorpio and Pisces simultaneously. Both fading back into the celestial world. The edges of Virgo started to blur and I could sense that she was fading, her time here was up.
"My Lady…" She said, shooting me a worried expression.
"It's okay Virgo. You did great. Thank you for your help!" I told her as she faded away. Wendy scurried to my side, standing shoulder to shoulder with me. "Are you alright?" I asked her. She had a nasty scrape on her right bicep and thigh from when she had been backhanded earlier. She nodded.
"And you?" She asked. I nodded.
"YOU!" Wailed Yukino. She had reached a new level of madness. "YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME! THOSE KEYS BELONG TO ME HEARTFILIA!" Yukino's eye's bulged, spit flying from her mouth as she talked.
"You want them? Come and take them!?" I taunted. I didn't know where this new found courage was stemming from. Maybe it had to do with the comradery I was feeling towards Wendy. Maybe it was my thirst to prove myself. Maybe it was because Natsu thought me incapable. I shrugged my right arm, trying to get myself used to the weight of Natsu's sword, and flexed my whip hand. Ready.
Yukino pulled out two more keys, a gold and a silver. Four keys in one day! This woman really was mad as a hatter! I couldn't figure out where all this energy was coming from. How was she doing this? It was impossible! I got my own key at the ready, Taurus. This was my last hope, I wouldn't be able to effectively summon Aquarius without a body of water, even if I did have the energy to do it. At the same time Taurus appeared, Caelum and Leo did. I lost track of what happened next, all I know is that Wendy was caught up with Yukino, her rapier to a pair of twin daggers Yukino pulled from somewhere on her person. Taurus was swiping his battle axe at Caelum, and missing quite frequently. I was being taunted by Leo. Leo darned a golden suit of armor, lion ears sticking out of the top of his head, a greedy smile on his face.
"Do you really think you can take me little girl? Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're cute."
"Wouldn't dream of it." A commented back, refusing to let him intimidate me.
Leo attacked first, shooting wisps of purple magic at me. I twirled, striking one with my whip and slicing through the other with the sword.
"Good! That was just a test. You passed! Now time for the real deal!" Laughed Leo. I tried to take advantage of his arrogance and stab him through the chest, but he was too fast for me. He caught the blade in his armored hand and yanked it out of my feeble grasp, then used my own attack against me by butting the handle of the katana into my sternum. I fell back, the wind knocked clean out of me, gasping for a normal breath. He tossed Natsu's sword to the side. I was severely over powered and Leo knew it, he was toying with me. He went to swipe at me and I made the same mistake I did with the shadow demon. I stopped the blow by coiling my whip around his forearm, and just like the shadow demon, Leo used this move to his own advantage. He tore his arm away with such force my fingers slipped from the whip. What Leo didn't realize however, was that I somehow, luckily, by the fates of the gods, landed next to Natsu's sword. I felt Leo's shadow loom over me and knew that he was gearing up to finish me off. My plan was to whip around at the last second, impaling him with the sword….
But it was not to be. Out of nowhere comes Natsu, using the armor on Leo's chest like a springboard to launch himself back at Brain. Two birds, one stone I guess. Natsu's kick sent Leo to his ass, quick like a flash I roll over, stood up and brandished the sword at Leo's throat. Unconcerned he smiled at me. "A little overconfident are we?" He swept his feet under mine, causing me to fall painfully on my left knee. Cheese and rice that hurt! Before I knew it I was in a poorly matched battle with Leo, my whip still dangling, useless from his forearm. I used Natsu's sword two handed, able to do nothing but block. A few more times Natsu had stepped in, which was starting to get annoying at this point. I had appreciated it when it actually helped, but most the time he was butting in to defend me against blows I was already prepared to handle. Plus, he was constantly putting himself and Laxus at risk by continually abandoning his own fight to help me. I even tried to tell him so, but he ignored me.
"God Dammit! Natsu! Focus on your own fight!" Boomed Laxus, as had just been caught on the wrong end of one of Brains attacks, using the back of his hand to wipe blood off his lip, after about the sixth time Natsu had deserted him. We were all losing out battles. I could hear Erza's labored breathing above me, blood starting to drip randomly from the rafters. Wendy seemed to be faring pretty well but Taurus was losing, Caelus was far too fast for him, he had thin, deep cuts all over his body. I had missed it but Lisanna was been rendered unconscious, and Laxus ended up having to leave Natsu to go take care of whoever it was Lisanna had been fighting. Grey, Gajeel, Sting and Rogue were still at it, though, strangely it almost seemed like they were enjoying themselves. Ugh. Boys. Don't they realize the severity of the situation here!? Jellal jumped in to Wendy and nobody knew where Gildarts and Mira where.
There was a loud crack and without warning, Juvia crashed to the floor, flat on her back in front of me, raining down water and chips of wood. So much of the guilds structural integrity had been damaged, and it was in danger of collapsing, but nobody had time to worry about it. I dashed to go cover Juvia, make sure she was alright. I heard Leo powering his fist canon's up, I had no time to react other than to crouch over juvia, and throw my arms over my face. Predictably, Natsu zoomed in at the last second, grabbing Leo's arm and redirecting it, the blast that shot out of his arm hit Gajeel instead. Natsu, didn't stop there, he kept twisting until there was an audible snap. Leo yowled….
Like I sixth sense I turned my attention towards Brain, who had only been fighting only Natsu at the time, no one else to distract him. I don't know why, it was like I knew it was going to happen before it did.
Time seemed to slow dramatically. I felt vibrations of the crunch in Leo's arm as I broke it. His cries of pain seemed to be too low pitched and drawn out for time to be happening at real speed. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up, my heart beats pumping into my ears, skipped a beat. I whipped around behind me for what I already knew was too late. Brain held out his palm out stretched, beaming out of it a red laser that sailed through the air straight for me, a strange red electricity snapping around it. The laser was aimed sear straight through my back. But it didn't.
"NOOO!" I screamed for what felt like an eternity. My heart stopping, a rock lodged in my throat. Lucy had dived, in the nick of time to save me, but it was too late for her. The laser seared right through the flesh of her abdomen out the other side, in a small explosion of blood and flesh. I tried to catch her, but even in the strange slow motion state I was in, I was too late. She fell to the floor in a heap on her side, a pool of blood already forming beneath her. The aftershock of the strange red electricity caused her body to convulse, but she made no sound. No screams of pain. Not even any voluntary movements of her muscles. Her eyes snapped open, all you could see was the whites of her eyes. I felt like I was drowning, falling, sinking, into what I didn't know. All I knew was that it was better than being here. Anything, anything was better than this. It was better than feeling what I was feeling, an emotion too strong to face. Like the coward I was, I plunged, and yet something…. something was coming to the surface in my absence.
Life returned back to normal speed. And in the blink of an eye the tables of this battle had been turned. Brain had just sealed his own fate. My body erupted like lava out of a volcano. The arches of me feet grew at an alarming rate, my ankle becoming a hock. My skin becoming scales. My nose becoming a snout. My body exploded. Growing rapidly in size, I had to duck my head to avoid hitting it off of the few remaining rafters. I roared, sharp teeth flashing, spittle flying from my mouth. Beneath me everybody had stopped, in awe of whatever it was I had become. Wendy fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes, her hands clamped over her ears to drown out my roars. Laxus, who had been holding Lisanna, gingerly set her down. Grey and Gajeel, open mouth gaping.
"MWUAHAHAHA!" Chuckled Brain. "This! This is what I needed! Come on Natsu Dragneel, come on out!"
I realized I was no longer in control of my own body when my arm… or was it my front leg? Reached out and plucked Brain off the ground, squeezing him like a tube of toothpaste in my grasp. Without any indication from my brain, my head lunged forward and ripped Brains arm off with my teeth. Blood spewing out of his arm socket, and pouring down the sides of my mouth. Starting to become horrified about how much I had lost control. I had become a bystander in my own body. I started to chew Brains arm. He grunted in pain at first, but the grunt gradually shifted to another laugh.
"It's just an arm Natsu. Arms, legs… heads… they can be replaced…"
I felt something sharp on the inside of my palm…claw? Out of a purely visceral reaction I dropped him. He had sliced my enlarged hand open, large globs of blood splattering onto the floor. Blood still squirting out of the place his arm had been, Brain held a knife in his mouth, and a test tube in the other, letting the blood trickle down the blade and drip into the test tube.
"Looks like we got what we came for." Grinned Brain crookedly. I growled, snapping my teeth and swiped at him again, but came up short. He just disappeared…. vanished. As a matter of fact, so was all the other members of Sabertooth and the Oracion Sies, disappearing with a series of small popping noises. The members of Fairy Tail silently taken aback by the sudden victory. Everyone except for Sting, his appearance disheveled, thick tears spilling over his red puffy eyes.
"LUCY!" He was screaming. "LUCY!" His voice hoarse from the effort. He tried to sprint for her but was stopped by Grey.
"You can't! You can't Sting! You have to leave!" Gray was pushing Sting back linebacker style. "He'll kill you! Go! Go with Rogue!"
My mammoth head turned towards Laxus. This was such a strange feeling, it was like watching a movie, or being on a ride at Disney Land. I could see and hear everything, but I was powerless, powerless to command my body to do anything. It was like someone else had taken over the controls. I was sinking, sinking into a void unfeeling, a place where only instinct mattered. Laxus was dashing for something at my feet. My instinct reaction was to step over whatever it was, and for some reason, I was careful not to step on it. I confronted the puny man called Laxus. I growled at him, snapping my teeth.
"Natsu…" He said, looking mildly hurt. "Natsu… we have to get her help! She might still be alive!"
Something in me churned, but my body wasn't having it. Several times the puny, insignificant, human Laxus tried to duck around my head. Each time I met him, my lips curled over my teeth in a lethal snarl.
"NATSU YOU IDIOT!" He started shouting at me, losing his temper. "You're the reason she's in this fucking mess in the first place! She's going to die! Now step aside and let us try to save her!"
I roared at him my most ferocious roar, crouching low over whatever it was I was protecting. All I knew is that whatever it was, I wasn't letting Laxus have it. The man Gildarts appeared, placing a gentle hand on Laxus's shoulder.
"That's not going to get us anywhere." He corrected calmly. "Let me handle this. No offense, but we need to cater to Natsu's good side right now." Laxus stiffened, folding his arms over his chest, he didn't fall back but he didn't argue. The man Gildarts shrugged off his cloak, letting it fall to the floor. He held out his hands, palm side up, he moved towards me in a slow methodical method, as though he was trying to tame a wild horse. The rest of the guild stood around in a semi-circle, a sea of mixed emotions, waiting with bated breath. He spoke to me in low relaxed tone. "It's okay…. It's okay. We're not going to hurt Lucy; we just want to take a look. Can we take a look? Will you let us?" Lucy…. Lucy? Why was that significant somehow? I stopped, I didn't growl, I didn't move, I waited. He continued working his way closer, I let him. I could tell that he was nervous, his upturned hands shook, his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, his armpits and forehead perspiring. "We're going to be careful. I promise. But she's going to die if we don't help her now. Understand? You don't want that right? We're not going to hurt her; we're not going to hurt you. It's going to be okay." Gildarts continued to coo.
He gestured a hand to what was beneath me. I crouched back on my haunches to see what it was. It was a girl. I was protecting a girl. She was laying, unmoving, in a puddle of her own blood. Recognition slammed into me. Lucy. This was Lucy. That was significant. I was swimming, frantically trying to reach the surface. Gildarts said we could save her. I realized I wanted that. I was treading water, fighting whatever it was that was trying to push me under.
"Wendy. Do you remember Wendy? She's going to help us." Gildarts waved over a small girl, Wendy. The girl stepped forward, tears streaming down her face, hiccupping. She approached, her leery eyes on me. Her steps hesitant.
"Gildarts!" Said the woman Erza sternly, showing concern for the girl.
"Sshh! It's okay Erza…. Stay where you are! He understands… I think..." He looked up at me for reassurance, I didn't give him any. My body and mind were jockeying for position.
"Gildarts… I. I don't think I can..." Stuttered Wendy, unsure of herself as she got a closer look at Lucy.
"Listen to me." Said Gildarts, clasping is hands on her shoulders and kneeling down so that he was eye level with her. He started whispering to her hastily under his breath, Wendy nodding every so often. "…at least try." I caught him saying as he stood up.
"Natsu…" Said the girl Wendy as she approached me, shaking like a leaf from head to toe. "….I'm going to do what I can for Lucy now, okay?" I managed to nod my colossal head. Wendy knelt down beside Lucy, the knees of her jeans becoming soaked in Lucy's blood. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hovering her palms over Lucy's body, performing some type of scan. Suddenly her lids flicked open. "She's alive!"
The experience was impossible to explain, it's like all my conscious thoughts were being sucked through a straw. I was winning. My body began to shrink, I commanded my fingers to flex and watched as they obeyed perfectly. With consciousness came a price. A tidal wave of emotion flooded every corner, invaded every cell. My heart filled with sorrow, my veins with dread, in my stomach a heavy terror.
Wendy worked feverishly, her mouth mumbling spells at a million miles a minute. Her hands hovering over the hole in Lucy's body, a pale blue light emanating from her hands, a sweat worked up on her brow. I watched as Lucy's insides where sown back together, organ tissue growing rapidly under Wendy's guidance. Gildarts crouched beside her, rubbing her back and feeding her words of encouragement.
The more I watched the more my scales retreated back into my human skin, my claws became nails, fangs became teeth. I fell to my human knees on the opposite side of Lucy. My heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest, all that was left was this raw cavity. I would have done anything to help Wendy succeed. Anything. I would have chewed off my right arm if it would have made any difference. Instead I could only watch fervently, the hollow feeling in my core growing. Lucy was impossibly pale, her breathing was slow, shallow and way too infrequent. Her skin cold to the touch.
I could tell Wendy was tiring. Her muscles were shaking from exhaustion and she started to sway. She had made it through Lucy's organs and was working on the muscle layers. Wendy almost fell over from exertion, but Gildarts caught her in his arms and propped her back up again.
"Gildarts! That's enough!" Ordered Erza stepping forward. Jellal put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, which she shrugged off. She was about to come storming forward to Wendy's rescue when her gaze met mine. Erza stopped cold. A fire blazed in my eyes, daring her to take another step.
"Erza!" Pleaded Jellal, grabbing her arm, trying to coax her back. For once, Erza listened.
"Wendy." I said, my voice thick and raspy. Her eyes flitted up to meet mine. "Please." I begged. Wendy nodded determinately and went back to work for several long minutes. The layers of Lucy's skin flying back together seamlessly. Right as the last layers of dermis where laid down Wendy collapsed, unconscious into Gildarts arms. In the same moment Lucy's eyes opened and she rolled onto her side in a coughing fit. I had never in my life been so thankful to hear someone cough. My heart started beating again and I finally let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"..N…Natsu…" Lucy wheezed, her eyes squinting open. She started to lean up on her elbows, wincing in pain. I rushed to relieve her of that burden. I snaked my arms under her, helping her to prop herself up, holding her close to my chest, tears of relief threatening to spill over. I laid on the floor with her, holding her, reveling in every beat of her heart, every intake of breath a victory.
The rest of Fairy Tail had sprung back into action around us. Laxus discussing furiously on the phone with someone. Gildarts had passed Wendy off to Erza, who was about to go all mama bear on him. Mira had cleared off a couch that had somehow survived and was tending to Lisanna on it. Grey was helping Juvia walk over to a chair to rest. Jellal was bandaging a wound on Gajeel's chest.
"Wha…. What happened?" Asked Lucy, her voice weak and strained. How do I tell her? How do I begin to explain? How can I phrase any of this in a way that wouldn't stress her out more?
"Nothing." I tried to say in as soothing a voice as I could muster. "You're okay. Everything's going to be okay." I said more to myself then her, gently smoothing out the hair on top of her head.
"You're crying." She stated, her eyes widened in concern. A weak, shaking hand reached up to caress my face. Her hands were still so cold. I turned my face to kiss the inside of her hand. "Natsu… I'm so tired." She yawned, letting her head lean against me.
"I know."