A/N: Hello minna-san! Here's the normal Sunday update! I thought I might as well still post today cuz a) Sunday is my relaxing day anyway, and b) this one isn't as long as the last one so I don't think it's an overload, though it's still a decent length. This chapter is pretty painful though... the things I do to poor Natsu... fortunately, with the way I've got the story planned, there shouldn't be another completely heart-wrenching chapter for a while. But anyway, here's this big dose of feels for your week! Enjoy! :P
P.S. Any of you manga readers have any opinions to share about the most recent chapter?! I'm scared to death for Jellal right now, since he too is a former member of the council and Mashima has revealed his true side of not being afraid to kill characters o.O I'd love to talk to someone about this if anyone is willing!
Chapter Twelve: Shattered
"Natsu!" Happy exclaimed as Natsu gasped and abruptly stopped running. "Are you okay?"
"Gah!" Natsu winced, hunched over and clutching his stomach. He felt as though he had been punched, or a hand had twisted his stomach into knots. He had no idea what caused it, but he had a feeling it wasn't something physical, like something he ate. The dread and panic that had been lurking in the dark corners of his mind shoved its way to the forefront of his senses, and for several moments, Natsu couldn't breathe. Lucy.
"I think something's happened," Natsu said hoarsely. "We've gotta hurry!"
Natsu took off at a run again, faster than before as his renewed fear gave him a burst of energy. He charged up and down slopes and took sharp corner after sharp corner at full speed, sometimes having to jump or kick himself off a wall in order to avoid crashing. His sharp night vision allowed him to see almost perfectly even in the complete darkness. He could still catch Lucy's scent on the dank still air, though it was heavily polluted with dark magic. He had to find her. He had to find her now, before-
"No!" Natsu shouted as he turned a corner and found himself at a dead end. He'd been following Lucy's scent through his maze of mountainside tunnels for what felt like years, but he still hadn't managed to find her! And now this?! "No! She has to be here!"
"Could they have already gone?" Happy whimpered fearfully, but Natsu refused to even consider the possibility. Running over to the wall, Natsu put his hands flat against it and gave it a push. It didn't budge, of course, but Natsu was able to recognize that this wasn't a natural part of the cave. It wasn't as thick as the surrounding cave walls, and it didn't have as sturdy a foundation. Running his hands around the edges and corners, Natsu thought he felt a discernible crack between the cave and the wall, just barely big enough to slide a sheet of paper through. This wasn't a wall. It was a door. And Natsu's gut was telling him Lucy was on the other side.
"Get down, Happy," Natsu growled, carefully setting his friend down on the ground near the far wall and backing up as far as the tunnel would allow. "I'm bustin' right through it!"
"But- Natsu!" Happy cried, covering his head with his arms as Natsu started to charge full speed ahead at the barrier. His entire body was coated in dragon flames and his expression was one of demonic determination as, with a growl that grew into a roar, he leapt forward and straight up head-butted the wall, punching a hole straight through the middle of the wall as if it was made of paper. The hole cracked and expanded until the entire wall came crashing down, filling the tunnel with dust and debris. Happy coughed and shook the dust out of his fur as best as he could before getting to his feet and running over to the gap, his broken tail sliding over the ground behind him.
"Way to go, Natsu!" Happy cheered. "That's the way to use your head!"
Natsu, who had been buried beneath the rubble, suddenly burst out of it, still covered from the waist down. "KYAAA!" he cried, clutching his head with both hands. "MAN, That's gonna hurt later!" But later will have to wait, he thought as he stood and clambered out of the rock pile, shaking rocks out of his hair and pants. First thing's first: gotta find Lucy!
Natsu looked up, suddenly aware of the light now filtering into the cave. Lucy's smell was much stronger in here and was now mixed with a scent he immediately recognized as Loke's. He was what used to be a small, box-shaped room, and in the wall just opposite the one Natsu had broken down was a second hole he knew hadn't been his doing. This hole lead outside. Hope leapt in Natsu's chest; had Lucy managed to escape with the help of her spirits?
"Happy, there's a way out!" Natsu called back, running through the opening. "Lucy! Are you out hereaaAAAH!"
Natsu had stepped on something and slipped, landing flat on his back and almost cracking his head on the cave wall. He sat up, trying to blink away the white lights dancing in his eyes, and looking ahead, he saw the thing that had tripped him: it was an apple, much bigger and more red than any apple Natsu had ever seen, and it was still rolling away from him, bouncing along the ground like a ball. As Natsu's onyx eyes followed it, he noticed there was already a bite taken out of it. The apple only came to a stop when it hit something long and black, which was coiled on the ground like a snake. It was the edge of a cloak. The black and purple material pooled over the grass as if made of liquid, rising up in the middle to dress the person wearing it, and Natsu's gaze followed it upward until he could see the person's olive green face.
"Good evening, Natsu Dragneel," Maleficent said smugly. "We meet at last."
Natsu blinked. "Who the heck are you?"
The witchy lady made an irritated noise, her face twisting into a rather ugly glare as the crow on her shoulder squawked indignantly. Natsu thought she looked weird with her long staff and her funny headdress that rather reminded him of the horns he had donned when he masqueraded as the Great Demon Lord Dragneel back in Edolas. And what was wrong with her skin color? Was she sick? She smelled wrong, too. She was standing beneath the brambles of an apple tree that stood in the center of the clear, and Natsu's sharp eyes quickly noticed the mirror with a ghostly white face floating in the glass leaning up against the trunk behind her.
Natsu clambered to his feet. "Sorry, lady, but I don't have time to chat, I'm lookin' for someone. Maybe you've seen her? She's about this tall, has blonde pigtails, a big chest, and a whip on her belt? Have you seen anyone like that?"
"Caw!" the crow seemed to gasp as Maleficent's jaw dropped. The face in the mirror rolled its hollow black eyes and muttered, "Well, at least we know who isn't the smartest of them all."
"Natsu."
Natsu turned and saw Happy standing in the opening of the cave. The blue cat was giving the Dragon Slayer a very exasperated look as he pointed one paw at the horned woman. "I think she's the person who took Lucy," he said bluntly. "The orb in her staff has the same green light that Lucy was following in it."
"Heh?!" Natsu shouted, whirling around to the witch again. He snarled and cracked his knuckles. "Ya know, now that I smell ya, I think you were behind those thorns earlier, too! In that case, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu lunged toward the enchantress with fists a-flamin', but a large shadow rammed into him from the side with Elfman-like force and sent him tumbling off course. Natsu rolled onto his feet and prepared to attack again, but before he could even focus on his target, a bolt of green lightning crashed into him. This lightning was different than other magic lightning Natsu had experienced; this one burned him like poison, and he cried out in pain, his muscles seizing up as he fell back onto the grass.
"Natsu!" Happy screamed. Natsu tried to raise his head, but the weird electricity was still surging through him. He could barely move a muscle. Groaning and gasping, Natsu struggled to sit up as Maleficent glared at him from her spot by the tree.
"You poor, simple fool, thinking you could defeat me! ME! Maleficent, the mistress of all evil!"
"You… took Lucy… and hurt… Happy!" Natsu snarled, finally managing to push himself up to a sitting position, glaring at Maleficent with one eye open. "Of course… I'll defeat you!"
Maleficent smirked triumphantly at the weakened fire mage. "You're still searching for your beloved Lucy, then? Well, look no more, Natsu Dragneel! Here is your precious princess!"
Natsu watched as Maleficent gathered the end of her cloak in one hand and pulled it back with a dramatic flourish, revealing Lucy. She was lying on the ground as if she had fallen there, completely still and lifeless as a doll. Her eyes were closed, her face empty and pale, her blonde hair out of their usual pigtails and fanning out around her head. There was no breath. There was no heartbeat. Just stillness.
Natsu's breath hitched in his throat. He felt like someone was choking him. Time seemed to stop, the world around Natsu becoming sluggish and distant, like he was seeing it through murky water. The only thing he could clearly see was Lucy's body. Natsu had watched her sleep before – heck, he'd seen it just a few hours ago – but this was different. There was absolutely no sign of life in her, none of her normal glow or energy. He felt like he was back in Mercurius, seeing that body so unmoving and lifeless and draped in black. It felt just the same, except this was the real Lucy, the present Lucy, his Lucy. Not a future version, not Gemini, not an Edolas counterpart. His Lucy…
"Lucy," Natsu croaked. Clearing his throat, he tried again, in a slightly louder voice, "Lucy, wake up. C'mon, Luce, this ain't funny! Lucy!"
But Lucy didn't move. Natsu knew she was a sound sleeper, but there was no way she would ignore him when he sounded like this. Happy was sobbing quietly in the cave to Natsu's right, and in front of him Maleficent had thrown her head back gleefully, her wicked laughter echoing around the clearing. The sound cleared Natsu's head like a slap to the face.
"LUCY!" Natsu leapt to his feet, his fists coated in flames and his face full of rage. "What have you done to her?! What have you done?!"
"Never fear, oh prince," said Maleficent. "Your dear Lucy is not dead. My apple put her under a sleeping curse."
Natsu remembered the apple he had seen with the bite in it. It was still lying on the ground where he had kicked it, just about a foot away from Lucy's limp hand. His heart leapt hopefully at the knowledge that Lucy wasn't dead, but it was not enough to quell his fire.
"Well, I'll just wake her up, then," snarled Natsu. "Right after I burn you to a crisp!"
"Look out, Natsu!" Happy cried as the Dragon Slayer lunged forward, his fury adding fuel to the fire covering his fists. Before he could even get close to Maleficent, however, the hulking shadow before stepped in front of her, and Natsu screeched to a halt just before he plowed into it. It was a man about as big as Elfman dressed in animal skins and wielding a large ax, a grim scowl barely seen through the thick, tangled mess of facial hair covering his mouth and jaw. Natsu dodged as the man swung his ax at his neck, and he tried to duck around and grap Lucy, thinking he could have Happy take her to safety while he dealt with the two enemies. The Huntsman saw through it whirled around with surprising speed, kicking Natsu in the side. Natsu cried out as he was thrown backward and crashed into the side of the mountain.
"Natsu!" Happy cried, clambering out of the cave and running to his friend as Natsu slid down the rocks slope to sit on the gorund, aching all over and his head swimming. The Hunstman had shifted his ax into his left hand and grabbed the back of Lucy's vest with his right, throwing the slumbering Celestial Mage none too gingerly over his shoulder as Maleficent pointed her staff at the mirror. The ghostly face in the glass grimaced before bursting into emerald flames, the entire glass full of swirling green light. With a caw, the crow on Maleficent's shoulder took flight, diving straight at and through the magic mirror with a flash.
A portal, Natsu realized with a thrill of terror. No!
"I'll be taking this sleeping beauty, Natsu Dragneel," Maleficent declared. "If you wish to wake her, then come find me, and be sure to bring all of your anger and strength with you. I will be waiting."
"No waiting," Natsu snarled, staggering to his feet. "Now. I'm taking Lucy back right now!"
As Natsu lunged forward, Maleficent smirked and stepped through the fiery mirror, followed quickly by the hulking Huntsman. "NO!" Natsu roared as he jumped forward, his hand outstretched, trying to catch Lucy's fingers as the hung limply over the Hunstman's back-
Natsu rebounded off the glass and fell back with a cry. The clearing was still. The mirror was smooth and clear, the green flames gone, along with Maleficent, the Huntsman… and Lucy.
Natsu ran to the mirror and grabbed its frame. He refused to believe they were gone, refused to believe he had failed again. He picked the mirror up from its resting spot against the tree trunk and ran his hand along the back of it, as if he hoped to find some door or a latch. "No, no, no!" he murmured over and over again as nothing but smooth wood met his fingers. He scratched at the wood as if he could rip the portal back open, but all he got were bloody and splintered fingers and scratch marks on the wood. There was no escape door or anything in the tree trunk where the mirror had sat, and the ground was firm and holeless. The only signs that anything had happened at all were the mirror and the bitten apple that lay at Natsu's feet. Lucy was gone, just like Evergreen and Juvia. She was just gone.
"No, no… no… NO! BRING HER BACK!" Natsu screamed into the glass, shaking the mirror as if he could shake his best friend out of whatever land his enemies had dragged her through. "BRING HER BACK AND FIGHT ME, YOU COWARDS! YOU BRING MY LUCY BACK NOW!"
But all Natsu could see in the glass was his own anguished reflection. Choking back a sob, Natsu threw the mirror as hard as he could, listening as its impact with the ground shattered the glass and broke the frame several yards away from him. But the sound brought him no satisfaction. It only reminded him of the sound his own heart was making. His eyes were burning as he punched the trunk of the apple tree, both the trunk and his body trumbling from the force of his pain. He punched the tree again, and again, the bark scarping and bruising his knuckles without his notice. He just needed something to destroy, something to vent his anger out on because if he didn't he would explode, though the only thing whose destruction would satisfy him now where Mavis knew where with the person he cared about the most held captive in their grasp. He stopped punching the tree, but kept his fist pressed against the bark, leaning against it as he bowed his head and grit his teeth, desperately trying to hold back tears. It was just like what happened back in Mercurius. That witch had taken something precious to him right before his eyes, and he had been unable to stop it. He felt the first tear roll down his cheek.
"Natsu," Happy whimpered, still standing by the cave with snot and tears staining the fur on his miserable face. He desperately wanted to comfort his partner, but he suspected that this would be a bad time to get close to the Dragon Slayer now. His suspicions were confirmed when Natsu's quaking body suddenly caught fire, the flames growing and spreading at an alarming rate, and Happy leapt back into the safety of the cave, pulling his limp tail in with him and shielding himself behind what remained of the wall. The fire turned into an explosion like a super nova. It was comparable to the sun crashing into the forest. Smoke and fire rose into the inky blue sky like a raging giant, blocking out the moon and encompassing the entire clearing as Natsu threw his had back and gave a tormented roar, his flames reflecting the state of his heart.
"What in the name of Mavis happened here?!"
Erza, along with Gray, Wendy, and Carla, stepped out of the partially demolished cave and into the entirely demolished clearing. The group had arrived at the forest early that afternoon, due to a train delay that forced them to take a magical car to the nearby city. After talking to the man who had sent the job request Natsu and Lucy had taken, the group had trekked into the forest, going a little slower than usual because Erza had used up so much energy driving the car; Gray had to support her most of the way, and while she was now walking on her own, she still looked rather pale. Wendy's nose led them to the place where the lake used to be, only to find that Natsu and Lucy had finished their job earlier than expected and had already left. By that point, the sun was starting to set. By the time they'd reached their friends' abandoned camp, night had long since set in. It was after midnight by the time they found the enterance to the mountain cave, and it was a couple more hours before Natsu and Lucy's scent trail lead them down the right path to the place they were now.
"It looks like Natsu happened," Gray said grimly in response to the requip mage's statement. "All over the place. This must have been the explosion we heard and the smoke we saw earlier."
"Was there a battle?" asked Wendy nervously. "Do you think Natsu won?"
"It's hard to be sure," murmured Erza. "You say their scent trail stops here?"
"Hai. Everything is just swallowed by fire here. I can't smell anything but smoke."
"Well, they must be around here somewhere," declared Carla. "Let's start looking."
There wasn't much left to look for, however. The clearing was completely bombed to say the least. The trees ringing aroun the space were scortched and broken for several yards around. The earth was grasslass, hard and dry and choked with ash. The only thing standing in the entire area was a skeleton of a tree that stood right in the center of everything, charred and black and fighting to remain upright. It must have been in the center of the blast, but how in the heck had it survived?
Erza heard something crack beneath her foot, and she looked down to see shards of glass scattered beneath a blanket of ash. Bending down and picking up a shard, she found herself staring at a reflection of a jagged part of her face. It was a broken mirror, and while the frame must have been reduced to dust in the fire, the glass pieces had remained. Strange, she thought, gathering up the pieces carefully and wrapping them up in a sack cloth she had brought along to collect any evidence.
As Wendy and Carla walked around the edge of the clearing, searching among the broken and burned limbs of dead trees, Gray walked down the middle of the clearing, heading toward the only standing tree. As he walked, he noticed several small, black lumps littering the ground several yards around the base of the trunk. At first Gray thought they might be coal, but when he tapped one with his foot and noticed it squashed beneath his boot, he realized it was a type of fruit. Curious, Gray crouched down and-
"Don't touch it."
Gray shot back up to his feet and whirled around, half prepared to fend off an attacker. Wendy, Carla, and Erza, who also heard the voice, also looked around. The voice had come from the other side of the tree, in a spot that was hidden from their sight, and though the immediately knew who it belonged to, they had never heard Natsu Dragneel use that sort of tone before. As the girls raced over, Gray walked around the tree to see the Dragon Slayer crouched down at the base of the tree, his back to the Ice Mage, slowly turning something small and round in his hands. Happy was standing in front of Natsu, staring up at his long-time partner with teary eyes full of worry and his tail lying limp on the ground.
"Natsu," said Gray in a low voice, his eyes going wide. Oh, no.
"Natsu-san!" Wendy exclaimed as she, Carla, and Erza came to a halt at Gray's side. "What happened? Are you guys… Oh, Happy, your tail…"
Neither of the two teammates looked anwhere near okay, physically nor mentally. They were both covered in what looked like hundreds of small scratches, like they'd been caught in a tornado of razor sharp paper. Natsu had several burns that resembled those he got when hit by Laxus's lightnight and his hands were scraped and bloody, and as Wendy had pointed out, it was clear that Happy's tail was broken at the base. Said Exceed looked over at the group, his expression scrunching up as if he were about to start sobbing, and Natsu's hands froze. The group saw that what he held in his hand was an apple, uncooked and gleaming an almost too perfect red. There was only one bite taken out of it, showing the pure white flesh beneath the scarlet skin. Natsu's body began to shake.
"Natsu," said Erza, taking a step forward with her hand outstretched, but Natsu flinched away.
"They took her," Natsu choked. "I couldn't stop them. They took her right out from under me!"
Wendy's hands were clapped over her mouth, and Gray appeared frozen in shock. None of them had ever heard Natsu's voice so broken, so full of raw pain and guilt. Erza reached out again, and this time Natsu allowed her to rest her armored hand on his shoulder. "Who took her?" she asked quietly.
Finally, Natsu turned. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them splotched red as new tears started to form in them. His face was so full of unadulterated anger and anguish, Erza quickly backed away. The last time she had seen an expression even similar to this, she had been about to sacrifice herself to the Tower of Heaven. Natsu wasn't just broken. He was shattered.
"Maleficent," Natsu snarled. A solitary tear rolled out of his eye and dripped of his chin, landing on the open flesh of the apple still clutched in his hand.
This is the way you left me
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever,
Then live the rest of our lives,
But not together.
~ "Happy Ending" by Mika
A/N: So there's the end of the NaLu Kidnap Torture chapters. The next chapter will be back at the guild and will introduce some other characters, which I'm actually quite excited about, so I hope you guys will look forward to that next week! My week is pretty jammed packed so I don't think I'll get another chance to type until next Sunday. Please review and let me know what you think!
Love y'all!
~Elodie
Thanks to the following for favoriting/reviewing/following!:
xXChiasaHimuraXx: Haha I still need to try that! XD
saphiredragonstorm: YAY! I'm glad you liked it! This one was the one I really wanted to write well, since NaLu is my main OTP for Fairy Tail. I hope you like the next one, too! It's gonna be intense!
Lolibeagle: Mashima's always up to something XP that man is the Japanese Steven Moffat, I swear (for those of you who know who he is lol)
Umeko-bby: Thank you! :D
BlueFairy10: I'm super glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Maleficent definitely has something in store for Natsu, but Natsu has something ready for HER, too! NO ONE just takes away his Lucy and gets away with it, darnit!
Kim123kn: Thanks for the follow, dear!
