Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 14 - Breaking out, breaking in

Focus on Natsu

"Wait Natsu!" Lisanna shouted after him. "We can't just go charging in like that. We could run straight into a guard post or something."

"Let them come! They won't stand in our way!" Natsu replied. He was itching for a fight, itching to make someone pay for all of this.

"Do you really want to risk us getting caught again? And even if we win, a fight would still slow us down. Who knows what could happen to Erza while we are delayed. Better to make sure we get there with as little fuss as possible!" Lisanna tried to reason with him.

At her insistence, Natsu reluctantly agreed to a more reasonable and far quieter pace. None of the other cells they passed had any prisoners in it... or at least no living ones. Several contained skeletons or bones. Natsu hoped that it was only rats and similar vermin who had gnawed the flesh off those bones... The thought of the Demons eating Humans gave even him pause.

When he suddenly stopped, Lisanna ran into his back. "Hey, don't stop so suddenly... Natsu what's wrong?"

"I picked up Erza's scent... but there's also the scent of blood. Let's hurry."

Without waiting for a reply, Natsu took off at top speed, no longer caring about being detected. When he heard that Lisanna was falling behind, he slowed just enough for her to keep up, but dared not go any slower than that. As he got closer to his goal, he could make out more scents. Sweat, urine and another unknown scent that he couldn't place. Whatever it was, it smelled disgusting beyond believe and couldn't possible come from a Human. He hoped against hope that the smell of blood came from whatever else was in the cell with her.

Finally they arrived. Unlike the doors of most other cells, this one was made of a solid metal plate, secured by massive bolts and with just a tiny and currently closed window at head-height, allowing the guards to look inside the cell without having to open the door. Natsu lost no time and quickly began cutting through the bolts with his new sword. The door looked quite heavy, so he put his sword away and pushed with both hands.

And there she was.

The room was lit only by several candles off to the sides. Erza was strung up in the back, away from the door. Her arms were chained to the ceiling and her legs chained to the ground. She was covered in bruises, cuts and burn-marks and her head hung limply down. If she was aware of their presence, she didn't give any sign of it. Next to her a mass of tentacles and slime hung from the ceiling. The foul and acidic smell Natsu had noticed from the outside, wafted from the creature as it whirled around and began to lunge at the Dragon Slayer.

He immediately tried to counter with a flaming fist, but to his surprise the creature didn't even seem fazed and used two of its tentacles to knock him sideward into the wall. Natsu tried again, but again his fist only sunk a bit into the Demon's flesh before being bounced back. His flames were suffocated by the thick film of slime that coated the creature, before they could burn its skin. Next Natsu tried to grab one of the thing's tentacles and haul it into a wall, but his fingers slipped off the slimy appendage, earning him another strong hit into the side that spun him around and landed him face-fist in yet another wall. Behind him he could hear Lisanna cry out, apparently having no more success than himself.

When he turned around and made a few halting steps to regain his balance, he found the creature just sitting there, grinning at him, apparently waiting for him to get his bearings back in an arrogant display of its superiority, as if to say 'I don't need to go all out. I can afford to wait on you.' enraging the Fire Dragon Slayer to no end, but after the one-sided beating he had gotten so far, he restrained himself from charging in senselessly. He used the short break in battle to try to come up with some kind of plan to turn this fight in his favour. Something he didn't like to do and wasn't good at, he had to admit to himself, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

After a moment the Demon resumed the fight by leaping at Natsu again. Knowing that a direct attack wouldn't work against it, the Dragon Slayer smashed his fists into the ground between him and the Demon, causing an explosion. To his satisfaction, the monster was flung back and smacked hard into a wall. Though his little victory came at a price. Natsu too was flung back and hit the back of his head hard against the wall.

After the hit, the Demon's movements became a bit slower and unsteady, but it seemed no less determined and a lot angrier now. Electric discharges flickered over its tentacles. Suddenly Lisanna jumped at the creature, apparently intending to make the best use of its fixation on Natsu. When she came down on it, her knees sank a little in the creature's back, but she managed not to slip off and keep her balance. But when she drew her arms back to make the strike at the monster's head, she was suddenly hit by a massive electric shock, locking all her muscles into spasms and rendering her unable to move. The Demon easily tossed her aside like a broken toy, before leaping at Natsu again.

Still groggy from the beating he had gotten so far, Natsu wasn't able to dodge or defend himself. When it slammed into him, the creature quickly wrapped its tentacles around Natsu's arms and legs and squeezed tightly. Natsu tried to wriggle free, thinking that it should be easy due to the Demon being slick from all the slime, but to his mounting apprehension, he found himself trapped and unable to get away. With a big grin on its face, the creature lit up its tentacles with lightning, but the grin was soon replaced with a frown when Natsu, instead of convulsing in pain just grinned back.

For a few seconds more Natsu let more lightning build up around them before he began to eat it. "Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!" the Dragon Slayer said and blasted a Fire Dragon's Roar in the creature's face at point blank range. The heat was so intense that it burned away the protective layer of slime and charred the Demon's face black in less than two seconds. When it let go of Natsu, the force of the attack flung the creature at the opposite wall with enough force to crash through it and into the next cell.

Finally remembering that he had come in armed, Natsu smacked his own head and drew the black sword. "Time to end this!" Natsu shouted and pumped as much magic power into the weapon as it would take, causing white-hot flames to billow up around the blade.

Now the creature was really furious and charged at him. Natsu returned the favour and also ran directly at his enemy. When the creature leaped and tried to tackle him in the chest, Natsu ducked back and began to slide feet-first below the create. He held the flaming sword up and sliced its underside open from top to bottom. While the creature's rancid blood only splattered the ground behind him, a few drops of the slime dripping form its tentacles still hit him, but he paid it no mind. The Demon crashed to the floor in a heap, twitched a few more times and became completely still. For some reason the floor on which it had landed seemed to smoke and soon the Dragon Slayer noticed the acidic smell had gotten stronger. A moment later he felt a terrible burning on the spots that were hit by the creature's slime and he finally noticed that it hadn't been slime, but acid and this acid was now melting into his skin.

Lisanna had noticed it too and rushed at him to help, but he held out his hand. "Don't touch it! You'll just get it onto you as well... take a step back so I can try something." Natsu stammered between his pained gasping. He encased himself into a tight cocoon of flames and put as much power into it as he could. Luckily it was hot enough to evaporate whatever aggressive liquid the Demon had sprayed on him, in its last moment. A few lightly bleeding wounds remained, but it was nothing to worry about.

Now that the immediate danger was dealt with, Natsu and Lisanna turned their attention to Erza.

Focus on Lucy

Over the near mountain range the Demon's floating cube loomed.

"I'm glad you kept everyone in the cards after all. From that position they would only have needed a telescope or binocular to see that we got out alive. Surely they'd have already attacked, if they had noticed it. If we had to fight inside the city... I don't even want to imagine the kind of devastation and civilian casualties that would have caused."

Cana just nodded absent-mindedly, while she continued to sort through the cards.

"How comes they are all silent now?" Lucy asked the Card Mage.

"I bet they aren't. I just prevented any sound from escaping the cards for now. We need to work efficiently here and that's a lot easier if we don't have to deal with dozens of people shouting over each other. I only disabled the outgoing sound, but they were still able to hear everything we said, so we shouldn't have to explain what's going on to them." the Card Mage told Lucy, all the while continuing to sort through the stack.

Finally Cana found Master Makarov's card. Of course it had to be near the bottom of the stack, Lucy thought sarcastically. Cana touched the card with the tip of her index and ring fingers and Makarov's voice once again reached them.

"Good work Cana, you really saved us here. Also good thinking on sorting out the wounded and the Exceeds. We'll need them for what I have planned. First let the Exceeds out."

At a gesture from the Card Mage, the three cards in question flashed brightly and when the light faded, the three Exceeds were standing on the ground beside them.

"What do you need Master" Pantherlily asked dutifully.

"I need the three of you to deliver our mages in the cards. But first: Cana, can you put a spell on them so they are released when they arrive at a certain place or with after a certain time?"

"No to the former, but yes to the latter." Cana replied.

"Good. It should take about fifteen minutes... then add a bit of safety margin" the Master mumbled obviously to himself, before addressing Cana again. "Cast the spell on the cards of the wounded, the non-combatants and Porlyuscia and make it twenty minutes. Carla, please take them to the hospital, but don't take the direct way. Keep to the back-streets and try to keep out of sight of this cube as much as possible. It's unlikely that they are on the look-out for a single Exceed, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Make sure to put them in a place with enough room for everyone once they return to normal."

"Cana, can you turn yourself into a card too and then get out again by yourself?"

When the Card Mage nodded, the Master went on with his plan. "Happy, 'Lily, you'll deliver our offensive. We'll divide our mages into two stacks and each of you will carry one."

"Carry it where?" Happy asked confused.

"Onto the cube! You're going to fly us right into the Demon's headquarters, so we can stop them from activating Face and free Erza, Mira and Natsu. If we're lucky Lisanna is also held there and we can get all of our missing members back in one move. Try to keep out of sight for as long as possible and then go straight for that castle on top!"

Focus on Happy

Happy was nervous. He wasn't used to being depended on by the entire guild. And he wasn't looking forward to return to the Demons' very headquarters and all its scary inhabitants either.

To be frank he was scared, but at the same time determined not to let Natsu down again. We will get you back for sure, just you wait Natsu!

Due to his experience with military operations from his time as a captain of the Edolas military, Pantherlily had taken charge of the 'Exceed squad' as he liked to call them. They flew low between the houses up to the city limits, always careful to keep out of sight from the cube as much as possible.

The short way between the city and the forest was likely the riskiest part of their journey and consequently the one making 'Lily most nervous, but if the Demons had spotted them, they gave no sign.

This is crazy. Flying at this speed in a thick forest, what is he thinking? Happy thought when he almost crashed into a branch, but didn't dare to slow down, lest he be left behind by their self-proclaimed squad leader. I hope we won't crash into anything before we get there.

Despite Happy's fears, the two Exceeds managed to dodge and weave their way through the forest until they were right below the centre of the cube. As 'Lily had laid out at the start of what the black Exceed had dubbed 'Operation Hell's Gate', they broke through the foliage and started their ascent to come up from below the cube, heading toward the side that was facing away from Magnolia. With the guild and the town being the Demons' main target, their best chance to slip in undetected was to approach the enemy from behind.

"Almost there. We only need to circle around the back and rise the top of the cube and we'll be set. ETA ninety seconds." Lily informed the mages inside the cards, so they could get ready.

The pair was just about to rise over the level of the lower edge of the cube, when suddenly something began to pull them back. They tried to fight against this invisible force, but they were inexorably drawn towards the centre of the cube's underside.

"It's pulling us in! What should we do 'Lily?" Happy started to panic.

"There's nothing we can do. Looks like we'll have to make our way up top by foot... and that they will be expecting us. Cana, get ready to release everything, we'll hit the ground any moment now."

Focus on Lucy

For most of the flight, everything seemed to work as intended. They kept low and out of sight as much as possible and there was no discernable reaction from the Demons. Or at least that's what it sounded like to Lucy, from what little the two Exceeds said. With her sight being completely blocked by another card in front of her, she couldn't tell by herself. When Makarov and 'Lily came up with this plan, Lucy had been opposed to it. If they were discovered before landing, the Demons could easily pick off the two Exceeds at will with a variety of spells or devices long before they got into range. Despite her misgivings, Lucy couldn't come up with another way for everyone to reach their destination, so she had reluctantly given up on her arguments, but she had a bad feeling about the whole operation.

Going into their very headquarters is just so risky. the Celestial Spirit Mage thought again. If only we knew the location of Face, we could guard it with everything we have. But then there's also Natsu, Erza and Mira... I'm glad I don't have to make the decisions here...

When 'Lily advised them to get ready for the attack, Lucy began to think the plan might actually work... until a moment later when Happy's panicked voice shouted something about being pulled in.

Lucy didn't have to wonder what it could mean for long, since less than a minute later, she was standing on firm ground again... looking up at the forest... above her? Despite it being a quite disorienting sight, Lucy could easily deduce what was going on, but apparently someone else didn't get it and shouted "What's going on here? How can there be a forest above us in the sky?"

"The forest is still on the ground. It's us that's standing upside-down on the cube's underside. They must have activated a gravity field or something similar." Master Makarov told them. "That's both good and bad. It's good because it means they haven't detected us in time to intercept us in the air and we successfully made it here. But it's also bad because they know we're coming and will prepare their defences or maybe even try to charge us while we're still out in the open, so better be prepared for anything."

"Looks like they aren't ones for waiting. Here they come!" Bisca shouted and immediately began to snipe the enemies who were still too far off to be seen as anything more than silhouettes for anyone without a scope.

"From this side too!" Vejeeter shouted from the other direction.

"Everyone form a circle. Supporters into the middle, close combatants out front, but leave gaps for the ranged fighters to fire through!" Makarov commanded.

Since the side from which Vejeeter had shouted seemed to be their weakest place, Lucy summoned Sagittarius to strengthen that flank, where the horse spirit immediately began thinning out the Demons' approaching ranks with his expert bowman-ship.

To Lucy's surprise the enemies were firing only very few ranged attacks of their own. What few spells, arrows and bolts were sent flying their way, was easily deflected by the Fairy Tail mages. It seemed as if the Tartaros rank-and-file consisted mainly of close combatants.

But what they lacked in ranged firepower, they more than made up for in numbers. While the Fairy Tail mages managed to take a heavy toll in the enemy ranks, that came storming at them from every direction, there were just too many and soon the battle became close and personal.

For better or worse, they were now fully committed to this attack. Win or lose, there wouldn't be any retreat this time.

After words: Hey, first time that Happy gets the focus. Enjoy it while you can little cat, because it won't happen ever again if I can avoid it. :P
Anyway, the reason is that even if Lucy was in the bottom of either stack (the only spot where the visual window isn't completely blocked by the card below), she'd still only see the ground flashing by, so I needed someone with a better angle. The stealthy approach would have worked if it had been for the purely visible, but as in the manga, Tartaros detected the magic power coming from the cards and that's how the FT invasion force was discovered and pulled onto "undercube" by the gravity field. I'm mentioning that since I'm not yet sure if any of the Demons will get the chance to explain it later, without it sounding weird. I certainly don't plan on writing scenes on places where no FT member is present at this point.

Let me know what you thought of my story so far.

26.02.2016: So Natsu dismantles the door and then it's back in place for Kyouka to open like normal later? Whoops. I corrected that now.

27.08.2017: Spelling.