*Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.*
CHAPTER 11
Master arrived to the infirmary with Wendy. Wendy looked around. "Who's in the worst condition?"
Gray walked over to Lucy. "She's been unconscious since we found them this morning. We haven't had a chance to ask Natsu what exactly happened because we were in a bit of a rush. She's been losing body temperature as well."
Master asked everyone to leave so only Mira, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Carla, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and himself were in the room.
Wendy walked over to Lucy and slowly put her hands above the celestial mage. She immediately furrowed her eyebrows. Her healing light changed colors several times and she finally stopped after 5 minutes. She looked around apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can heal her. I've tried everything. I might have helped a little, but she's not physically hurt. . ." She looked back bewildered at Lucy. "It's her magic . .It's like her body is just pushing it out of her. I tried to stop it, but it barely made a difference. I think Porlyusica will be able to help more."
She made a few steps towards Natsu and it took her a few simple minutes to heal him and he woke up immediately. He stretched and looked around, eyes falling on Lucy. "Why did I get healed first? Lucy is the one who really needs it."
Erza stood up and walked over to the bed placing Happy in front of Wendy and looking to Natsu. As Wendy started to heal the little blue cat Erza informed him, "Wendy has already tried that. Porlyusica is on her way to see what she can do. Natsu . . I think you should tell us what happened."
Natsu felt his jaw clench as he looked around the room. The master pulled his chair close and watched him attentively. "Well . . After Happy, Lisanna and I fought those bandits we were walking back to town . . A group of people surrounded us in the woods. I told Lisanna to escape and get help and she did and then Happy was caught. I heard one of them say something they wanted to do to him. ."Erza and Gray looked away, remembering what they overheard themselves. "I was able to get a hold of Happy and I threw him out of danger." He looked down at Happy remorsefully.
"One of their mages has some plant ability, it's like it drains your power and you can't do anything. Well. I must have blacked out for some time. I woke up tied to some wagon by those plant vines and was being carted deep down through some cave underground. That's where they hooked me up to this giant dragon shaped . .machine." Natsu looked back at the master. "They said that they wanted my dragon magic, my essence of life, and that the only way they could get it was if I gave it freely."
Everyone in the room exchanged solemn looks before staring back at Natsu intently, waiting for him to continue.
"I obviously refused. I don't know how long I was down there, but the machine, while I was hooked up to it. I . . I couldn't use my fire, nor any of my dragon abilities. I couldn't see as clearly nor could I smell things very well. The man that was demanding me to release it was wearing a cloak the whole time. I only got one good look at him."
He gave a soft, concerned glance at Lucy before closing his eyes and rubbing his head. "They called themselves the Dragon Demolishers. From what I gathered, I think they are going to target the other dragon slayers." He looked back at the master's face with urgency.
Makarov was in deep thought. "How did they plan on forcing you to relinquish your power?"
Natsu returned his gaze to the blonde laying on the cot next to his. "They . . brought her in."
Mira, Wendy, Carla and Happy all gasped while everyone else just wore a disturbed expression on their face. Makarov clenched his fists.
Natsu continued the story. "They told me that she was going to die either way, but I would get to choose how." Natsu put his elbows on his thighs and sank his head deep into his hands, staring at the floor. "They said if I just gave them my power, her death would be fast and painless. If I didn't . ."
Erza stepped forward. "What happened, Natsu?"
He looked back at Lucy. "I'm not entirely sure. Suddenly she became Gemini and took out one of the bad guys. Loke said he got her keys or something. She said that she sent Virgo to Gray and Erza . .?
"Yea." Gray filled in what happened on their end. "We were searching for Lucy when Virgo appeared and told us that Lucy had found Natsu and were planning an escape. She told us that they would be heading West and to meet at the Guild. But Virgo was suddenly alert and said something was wrong and then poofed."
"Erza closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. "That's when we commandeered the vehicle."
"WHAT?!" Master almost fell out of his chair in shock as Mira just chuckled.
Natsu looked over to Erza and Gray, before watching Lucy. He stood up and walked to her cot. His head whipped around to the group. "She's freezing!"
Mira frowned. "We gave her 10 blankets, I was hoping that would be enough."
"Natsu, what happened next?" Natsu regarded Erza seriously. "Why did Virgo suddenly disappear?"
"The cloaked man grabbed her and did something. I don't quite understand his magic; something about the mind or the nerves. He used it on me a few times. All I can say is that it hurts." He looked back at Lucy. "A lot. . . .When he used it, Loke vanished as well. Lucy managed to surprise him with a kick and escaped and summoned that scorpion spirit or whatever. Then she pulled the tubes from the machine off. When she was done, she blacked out and I carried her out."
Everyone stared at him dumbfounded. "What?"
"Fire breath, that is a very brief description. She just collapsed?" Gray gave Natsu an incredulous look.
Natsu felt himself get a bit angry. "YEA. JUST COLLAPSED."
Erza started to rub her temples with her right hand, clearly frustrated where the environment in the room was headed. Before she could yell at them, Porlyusica stepped in the room.
She immediately stepped over to Lucy and picked up her hand. Wendy briefly whispered to her what she thought it was and what she tried to do. Porlyusica quickly started mixing herbs together and finally stopped and looked around at the silent room filled with mages. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STILL DOING HERE?! GET OUT NOW!"
Natsu went to stand up. "Not you. Sit next to her. She's freezing and you radiate enough heat to warm a house." He sat back down slowly, while everyone else left besides Happy. "Sit her up." She finished mixing ingredients and held a liquid up to the celestial wizard's mouth, having her slowly swallow the brew.
She looked at Natsu. "I overheard part of the story from the door being cracked. There were a few people snooping outside. When she removed that tubing, what did you see?"
"Bright flashes of light. Kinda goldish."
"Just as I suspected." She laid Lucy back so she was laying down once again. Her red eyes bore into him. "She used an extensive amount of magic to remove those from you." Natsu looked shocked. "That is difficult for a celestial mage to exert magic like that when they typically only put it into a small object. She probably lost consciousness before she was able to seal her magic and stop the flow."
Natsu stared at the lady confused. Happy announced. "I don't get it."
"WELL I'M NOT GOING TO RE-EXPLAIN IT! I'M NOT YOUR TEACHER!"
She started packing her things. "Keep her warm, she should recover within the next few days."
Happy and Porlyusica then started to get into a conversation about his wing maybe being sprained and she had him use his aero magic so she could examine it. She patched it up and said that Wendy clearly did a good job on all of his other injuries so she was heading home. She stalked out of the room. The master entered the room after briefly talking with Porlyusica outside.
The master sighed, "Well, I'm happy that you will all be all right, but we clearly must do something about this band of enemies. The Dragon Demolishers . . I shall have to warn our dragon slayers and inform Sabertooth as well. I'll send the others back in here." Makarov left the room in a hurry, urging the others to follow.
A large poof appeared next to the bed, and there stood Loke. He stared down at Lucy, clearly upset about something, before he turned to Natsu. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the floor.
"For what? You really helped us back there."
"I . . I didn't see him. I spoke with Scorpio, he said he could see him in the shadows the entire time, all the way until the man left, but I couldn't. We had Crux look into it." He closed his eyes, clenching his fists. "Because of the years of exile I spent in the human world, apparently my perception isn't only celestial spirit. The influence of the human world let that man's magic mess with my head. ANY of the other spirits could have seen him, but not me. ." He sat down putt his head in his hands. "I . . feel so weak."
Natsu stared at him. "What do you mean?"
Loke looked at him through heavy eyes. "Lucy figured it out, didn't you?"
Natsu gave him a surprised look before looking at the girl next to him. "She did?"
"How do you think she escaped his influence on her?" Loke stared meaningfully at Natsu.
Natsu shook his head. There was a knock on the door and soon the room started to fill again with the people that Porlyusica kicked out, along with a few tagalongs (Levy, Cana, and Reedus). Loke stood up. "I'll let you ask her, she needs to regain her magic, so I'll be heading back now." With a poof, he was gone once again.
Thank you everyone for the continued support. I might be dropping from 3 updates a week to twice a week with finals for school looming and I have recently started another story that I'm updating once a week. Next update will be Friday. I hope you all enjoy the story. Let me know what you think. =)