Okay so I know I left a lot of things unanswered last time. But now most things will begin to be answered. Really all of this is a set up for chapter 13 where stuff goes down! But we really need to set up the mood and plot before any of the fun stuff can happen. There's also some NaLu to make this chapter a little more enjoyable!

Chapter 12: A Lost Battle

Meeya and Wendy ran up the stairs, well limped in Meeya's case. They could hear the sounds of battle further down the hall way. They arrived at a landing about 2 floors up from the main floor. There was a thick grey stone railing and when you looked over it you could see other landings and stairs. Far below them Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lucy were fighting what appeared to be shadows. There were cracks in the stone from the fight. The whole room was dimly it, not as dark as the prison cells, but there were still shadows everywhere in the tall, and wide room. Everywhere you looked there was gray stone and cobwebs. In every corner lurking there were shadows. It would send chills through any ones spine. Wendy and Meeya ducked down behind the railing so they wouldn't be seen. Right now they needed to figure out what this weird Master guy's plan was.

"Okay so we know that this master person wanted us to escape but why?" asked Meeya.

"Maybe he wasn't evil and wanted us to be able to leave?" said Wendy optimistically. Meeya rolled her eyes.

They heard a loud cry from below.

"Natsu!" came Lucy's voice from far away. They needed to solve this quickly.

...

Natsu was being swarmed by shadows. They leapt at him and gnawed at his flesh. He yelled in pain. Suddenly a voice appeared beside his ear.

"Why do you keep fighting its pointless?" He gave another cry of pain. He felt fingers and strong hands on his arm.

"You people are worthless fools." the voice answered for him. Natsu bit his tongue and looked beside him. There was a tall thin man with dark purple hair and pitch black eyes. He had a coat that was as black as his eyes. It was a coat made completely out of shadows. The shadows hissed at him, flickering almost like flames.

"We are not worthless." He hissed at the shadows. He sent a fiery punch at the man. The man caught it effortlessly.

"Yes you are." the shadows seemed to hiss back. The man threw Natsu across the room like a toy that no one wanted to use anymore.

"Natsu!" came Lucy's voice from in front of him. She started to desperately sprint towards him, but the man in the shadows appeared in front of her.

"Lucy" shouted Erza. Her and gray were fending off shadows, they tried desperately to come to the fire and stellar mage's aid, but when they did more shadows would come.

Lucy pulled out her keys ready to fight. The man moved quickly, appearing behind her.

"You are so dependent on your friends." the man whispered. She whipped her head around to face him.

"You're just a spoiled princess!" he spat.

"I am not."

The man laughed. "Look at your friends they're all hurt, and it's all because you can't do a thing."

"Open gate of the golden bull, Taurus." She shouted pointing the key at the shadow man.

"Nice Body Lucy-san as usual!" said Taurus. The man started to laugh again.

"Taurus defeat him!" the man, who was still laughing, held up one hand and shadows flew out of the floor. The laughter echoed of the walls, bouncing around every surface creating a haunting sound. The shadows held Taurus squeezing every inch of life out of him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help." Said Taurus as his body started to fade.

"As I." Said Lucy. She braced herself as the shadows came speeding towards her.

Natsu looked up only to see Lucy being struck full force by the shadows. Time itself froze.

"Lucy!" He heard his other concerned teammates call. But he couldn't do anything. Lucy flew through the air and crashed into the wall beside him. She hit the wall so hard a crack appeared.

"Lucy." He murmured.

Her body fell from the wall and hit the floor.

"Lucy!" He shouted as loud as he could. He stumbled along the floor trying to get to her. He collapsed on to his knees beside her and held her in his arms.

"Lucy?"

"Yes." She answered softly in a weak voice. She looked up at him and blushed because of how he was holding her.

"Really your blushing at a time like this." He said trying to lighten the mood. She merely smiled.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yes. But are you?"

"I'll be fine." She said giving him another heartwarming smile.

"Sorry to ruin this perfect moment here." Said a familiar voice. "You know what. I'm not sorry." Natsu received a harsh blow from the shadows. He skidded across the ground sliding into the wall at full force. A breathe of air escaped his lungs. Lucy tried to move but she was too weak.

"I'll just leave you here for a bit, I doubt you'll survive long. You shouldn't have lied to him."

He walked over to Natsu.

"Don't you dare hurt Lucy!" he hissed through the pain.

"Oh and look at you, so determined so in love! Really it's painful to watch this!"

"Shut up!" he yelled throwing a punch towards the shadows. The man caught his fist and twisted it. He yelled out in pain.

"Don't you realize that she loves someone else? Why would she love you anyway? You're not at all like the man of her dreams! You're not the handsome mage on the front of sorcerer weekly. You're just a hyperactive pyromaniac!"

The question echoed in Natsu's brain.

The man gave another sharp twist and Natsu fell to his knees. The man created a blade. It was long and pitch black, made entirely out of shadows. He could hear screams coming from the blade. "My personal collection of souls. I think yours will do quite nicely it's been a while since I've had such strong mages. It's been years and years." He brought the knife down in one swift motion. It made contact, making a… Clinking sound? Natsu opened his eyes. In front of him stood Erza sword unsheathed.

"You will never take a soul of another one!" She sliced at the man harshly with her sword. He blocked with his own. The two dove into a fierce battle. First Erza would strike a blow, but the man of shadows would strike two. They needed help and fast.

…...

"We have to do something!" Said Meeya. "I can't let Erza and everyone else get hurt!"

"I know Meeya-san, but right now we need to stay hidden."

"Staying hidden won't do any good!"

There was a long pause.

"Then I'll go!" said Wendy determinedly.

"I'll go to."

"No." She said firmly. "You're hurt."

"I'm fine!"

"Meeya-san. You could die! Please just stay here." And before she could protest Wendy had already started down the stairs to join the fight. Looking back Meeya didn't know why she didn't run after Wendy right then and there. But at that exact moment she didn't move. Wendy's words kept echoing through her head. "You could die."

"Like a star." She whispered to herself.

"You're my star pupil!"

…...

Lucy lay on the ground beside Wendy. The small little girl sat there trying to heal her as fast as she could.

"Done." She murmured. She helped Lucy sit up.

"Will you heal Natsu please?" The blonde girl asked. The bluenette nodded. Erza and Gray were still fighting and Wendy tried as best she could to maneuver herself towards Natsu.

"Natsu-san." She whispered softly "Are you okay?"

He nodded slowly. She began to check his wounds. They weren't as bad as Lucy's but they weren't good either.

"You're really banged up Natsu-san."

He huffed in response.

"Done." She said. She heard a cry from Erza who crashed into a wall and was followed by gray. She turned to look at the two when.

"I see we have a medic." Wendy froze. She didn't even breathe, she was so scared. Slowly she turned to look at the man. Her big brown Eyes met his Midnight black ones.

"Stay away from Wendy!" Said Natsu standing up.

"Oh please!" Said the shadows, mocking his mere existence. "I know you don't have any magic left." The man used one hand and swiped away Natsu knocking him to the ground with ease. He turned to Wendy again and grabbed her with the shadows. He started to squeeze the life out of her slowly. She screamed.

…...

She knew what the beasts meant now. She knew why they had warned her. But there was a chance, a slim chance that she could do it. Even if her secret came out she could still manage it. Anything to save them. Just then she heard a scream.

"Wendy." She murmured. She knelt on the ground peeking over the railing.

"No one move or I'll squeeze her brains out." No one even breathed. Wendy let out another cry. Meeya had to do something and quick. She had to fight she had to take a risk.

"Bastard." She muttered and jumped over the railing duel swords in hand. She brought the swords down on his head. Landing on him at the same time. He released all pressure on Wendy. Everyone was frozen Erza and Gray were still on the ground Lucy was recovering in Natsu's arms and Wendy was standing in shock.

"Meeya-san, I told you not to..."

"He would have killed you." Said Meeya bluntly. "Then he would have killed us all. This way only one person has a chance of dying."

"Meeya." Said Erza who was hobbling to her feet. She was covered in cuts and bruises. She had a long deep gash going all the way down her back and one arm and a leg was Brocken. Gray was not doing much better. Meeya gave her a worried smile. She turned to the man who was now getting off of the ground.

"And where did this one come from?"

"I jumped from the second floor." Said Meeya casually trying desperately to ignore the pain coming from her leg.

"Impressive for a princess."

Meeya froze. "You and the blonde one. You both just sit there and do nothing, you just watch your friends get hurt."

"I will never just sit there and watch well my friends are hurt!"

"What have you been doing this entire fight?" Meeya stood there shocked. But her surprise soon turned to anger.

"Shut up!" she yelled lunging forward.

Ha I always told you, you were worthless. A voice whispered in her head. That's why Iganda left! That's why they all left. But we can fix that. Let's light the world a blaze then we can show them. Then Iganda will love you. Then they'll all love you.

She shook her head. This was not good. She was letting this man get to her. Calm down. She took a deep breathe. She attacked again. It was a fierce battle that she was losing, badly. She had to keep trying. She had to. But when she fell down for the 10th time, she couldn't move anymore.

Weak! Said the voice again weak like you've always been.

The man walked over to Wendy.

"We should end this with a bang. Something to crush all of your spirits!" Shadow ropes appeared tying Wendy to something that looked like a bomb. She struggled to free herself but nothing worked.

"10"

She squirmed with all her might.

"9"

The others tried to stand up but they were all too weak.

"8"

"Meeya!"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

There was an explosion that echoed throughout the room. Natsu held Lucy tightly shielding her from all harm. Erza summoned all of her magic and was able to summon half a shield and gray ducked behind a pile of Brocken rubble. The only thing that they heard was the loud boom then the cackling laugh of the man of shadows.

Sorry for the cliff hanger! So did you like the way I wrote in the voice in Meeya's head? Did it make sense? Let me know okay? So tell me what you thought and leave a review!