All rights to Hiro Mashima
I wish all you readers a Happy New Year, may 2017 be the best yet!
~ Part Two: Tide ~
Noun: the periodic rise and fall of the waters of the ocean and its inlets, produced by the attraction of the moon and sun, and occurring about every twelve hours.
Erza threw a haphazard plan together on the spot; she needed to take out that blasted wind mage before he used his advantage for long ranged attacks. "Natsu! Gray! He must be trying to broadcast that song over the loud speakers in the train station. Find the control room, quickly!" It was the only logical conclusion to why Eisenwald would even stop at this station. To Erza's chagrin, Erigor only laughed and spouted more insults about Fairy Tail, then turned tail and ran away.
Well, floated away really.
Natsu wanted to argue. He wanted to snarl and growl and fight that his place was by his chosen's side. He and Lucy were a team, and he wanted to finally see her in action instead of being laid up with motion sickness. Besides, he hasn't even had a chance to take out that stupid shadow bastard yet.
However, after taking a single look at his Lucy, he realised that he honestly didn't need to feel fear for her, or worry about her wellbeing in any way.
He saw the telltale signs of her magic start to swirl and shift around her, a now familiar black brand etched itself onto her skin. She was pulling out the big guns for this fight. Natsu caught a glimpse of a single golden key outstretched between two of her fingers, a glow already emanating from her usually deep amber eyes. Anticipation crawled over his skin as he watched her summon a spirit friend to help her.
"OPEN! GATE OF THE GIANT CRAB, CANCER!"
"STAR DRESS, CANCER FORM!"
Oh yes. Big guns indeed.
His little Star Child wasn't going to pull any punches this time; she was just as pissed as he was. 'Gods, she's amazing.' He couldn't wait to get her home and into his bed, but Natsu doubted that they would even make it that far. 'Maybe an alleyway…?' Lucy was just too amazing for her own good, and the looks on the stunned dark mages faces cemented that idea.
Natsu smirked and cackled triumphantly as he followed Gray out of the main terminal out into the sea of unconscious bodies, ready to track down that skirt wearing freak. Lucy could take care of herself, without a doubt. Natsu almost felt sorry for idiots that dared to even go against her.
Almost.
She and Erza would wipe the floor with them; he had absolute faith. Although now wasn't the time to think about just how short Lucy's Kimono was or whether or not she would wear thigh high stockings again, he needed to focus on his task, many lives were on the line, and he couldn't afford to be distracted.
-ooo-
"Let's go Cancer!" Lucy held her two long daggers in her hands, ready to start the assault on the majority of Eisenwald, as Erza sped away in another direction, ploughing down enemies like bowling pins. Stepping out into the chaos around her, she dodged and weaved and ducked and slashed, her every move calculated and efficient. She liked Cancer's Star Dress the best so far, the lightweight weapons she used allowed her to move quickly in and amongst her opponents, and this form also increased her dexterity and accuracy.
Dark mages surged around her, all trying to cut her down. But Lucy steadfastly ignored her growing apprehension about the sheer numbers that were around her, using her brains and instincts to turn the tide of the fight. One after another, her opponents fell twitching on the ground, their nerves severed.
A commotion from the other side of the terminal caught her attention, and she dropped her guard for a single moment. It was enough for a dark mage to slip underneath her outstretched arms and bring down an enchanted sword towards her jugular.
Lucy dodged it in time, only being hit by the very tip of the long weapon near her collar bone, a long shallow scratch her only injury. A flash of golden light blinded her for a moment, and the man dropped into a pitfall that had magically appeared on the floor of the station.
Glancing around for the perpetrator, she spied Cancer dispatching the last of his opponents in a similar fashion as Duke Everlue, leaving a trail of unconscious, bald bodies in his wake.
With his job finished, Cancer adjusted his glasses and flashed her a small smirk. "See you later, baby. Hope you like their new haircuts. That dress looks fabulous on you." And then he was gone as quickly as he appeared. 'I do indeed like his work. Those idiots look ridiculous like that.' She could hear the prideful tone as Cancer said goodbye, and Lucy couldn't help but let a winning smile plaster itself on her face.
Her spirits were proud of her. It was more than she could ever hope for.
"Punishment Princess?"
Lucy whipped around to witness a stoic Virgo clamber out of the pitfall with the man who gave her the scratch, bound and gagged, trussed in rope and thrown over her shoulder. 'Of course, it was Virgo who made the hole in the ground.'
Lucy smiled at Virgo and shook her head at the request for punishment. "Not right now Virgo, maybe later."
Virgo bowed deeply and roughly deposited the dark mage on the ground, garnering a strained whimper from him. "I will take my leave then. Stay safe Princess."
"SHIT, it's Titania Erza! Queen of the Fairies!"
A great scrambling sound was heard, and most of the mages that had been so cocky before were darting around in circles or running away from a fuming Erza standing in the middle of the platform. "Come back and fight you, cowards!"
"RE-QUIP! HEAVEN'S WHEEL!"
"CIRCLE SWORDS!"
Lucy watched as every single mage that was left standing dropped to the floor, covered in cuts and bruises, some unconscious, some too injured to move. 'Holy crap! She's incredible!' Erza floated down to the floor again with a serene smile on her face and re-quipped into her regular armour.
"Well done Lucy, your magic is quite extraordinary. I look forward to the future, working with you was fascinating."
"Thank you Erza, I have never seen magic like yours either, although I haven't seen much magic at all to compare it." Lucy scrutinised the scene, looking for a particular shadow mage that she has a grudge against. 'Dammit, he isn't here! Where the hell is Kageyama!?'
A shuddering explosion interrupted her search. The building shook and plaster from the ceiling rained down on top of them. "What the hell was that?" Lucy asks Erza, a perplexed look on her face she can see mirrored in the other woman's expression.
"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from outside, let's investigate. Shall we?"
-ooo-
"What in Heaven's name is going on?"
A giant tornado encircled the whole building, whipping around the train station at breakneck speeds. Erza tried to force her way through with a mighty battle cry and a slash from one of her silver swords, but all she accomplished was being thrown to the ground with a torn up elbow. "It seems that there is no way to brute force ourselves out of this predicament. Lucy, do you have any ideas?"
Lucy had yet to drop her Cancer form, the golden light still swirling in her eyes, the ancient runes still showing proudly on her face. Levy had translated them for her after the bluenette had seen her initial confrontation with Erza. Apparently, the one under her left eye meant 'Protector', and the one under her right meant a strange garbled version of 'High Priestess.'
"I'm sorry Erza, I don't have any ideas at the moment. The boys might, though, I think we should find them. Kageyama and Erigor are still missing as well." Explosions could be heard in the background, and the women had no doubts that it was Natsu's doing. 'He is just so destructive.'
"Alright, let's go. I have a feeling this 'strange tornado' that cropped up out of nowhere has something to do with Erigor anyways. Wind magic is his speciality, after all."
And when Erza had a feeling about something, it was wise to listen to it.
-ooo-
While Erza and Lucy had fought and decimated the lower lackeys of Eisenwald, Natsu and Gray ran down a deserted corridor coming to a halt at a fork.
Gray made the executive decision. Two mages, two ways to go. If they split up, they will have a better chance of finding their objectives. "You go left; I'll go right. Don't die yah idiot or Lucy will come and cry on my shoulder." And then he sped away down into the bowels of the train station to escape whatever come back that Natsu could come up with.
He was not running away. No sir.
Natsu just growled and gnashed his teeth at the ice-mage. 'What the hell is with him? He knows that Lucy is mine. That bastard. Whatever… ' Natsu shrugged off Gray's parting words and sprinted in the opposite direction towards a hallway with many doors, all of which were locked. He can't smell anything out of the ordinary, but reasons that he shouldn't leave any stone unturned.
Smirking and cackling gleefully at the chance to do some damage, Natsu bypasses all the doors – which would have crumbled with a simple kick to their weak spots – in favour of blowing human-sized holes in the walls just next to those doors, his fist imbued with fire creating waves of destruction.
"Come on out Erigor! It's not nice to play hide and seek with a Dragon!"
And yet, he found nothing. No control system for the loudspeakers and no dress skirt wearing, floppy-haired flying mage.
Until he found something in the last room that he wasn't actively looking for, the pungent smell of darkness creeping up behind him
Kageyama had come out to play.
-ooo-
"Tch, I can't believe I wasted time on you." Gray was annoyed, but also worried. A freaky mage that looked like a cross between a bumblebee and an Egyptian sphinx had ambushed him from behind when he had finally found the control room.
But lo and behold, Erigor was nowhere around, which led him into a genuinely stupid fight with a truly stupid opponent who had all but let the real target slip when he had become too cocky in his skills with his finger-tentacle-things.
So with a couple of simple ice-make spells, Gray decided that he had learned all he could from this idiot and turned the dark mage into a human popsicle and left him to thaw out on his own.
He had to find Erza quickly. She needed to know that Eisenwald's actual target was Clover Town and had nothing to do with the drugs. Those laced ecstasy pills had been a side project of Erigor's, to spread dissent and chaos through the masses. He also learned that Kageyama was a seal breaker, and he was the person responsible for unleashing 'Lullaby' in the first place.
Gray hated people like that.
And to top it all off, Erigor had already left the building, erecting a 'wind-barrier' in his wake to keep the Fairy Tail mages inside. It had all been one gigantic, elaborately constructed trap.
"Fucking dammit." Now Gray was really annoyed.
-ooo-
The girls sprinted through the almost empty building to find their teammates, a disgruntled Happy streaking along behind them.
Turning a corner they ran – figuratively and literally – right into Gray.
"Erigor's gone. Wind barrier outside. Need Kageyama. Real target Clover." There was no time for full sentences as the mages detangled themselves from each other. Gray had to convey everything he knew as fast as possible.
"Clover Town? Why would they want to go there?" Lucy tugged her friends behind her towards the small booms and explosions still radiating from within the station, while asking Gray questions along the way.
"Master's meeting. All the other Master's will be there."
Erza paled considerably and sped her pace up. "Why would we need Kageyama?"
"He's a dispeller. He can get rid of that wind barrier."
Not another word was spoken as they raced towards a clearly enraged Natsu and his unknown opponent.
-ooo-
"Finally! I've been waiting for this rematch all day!" Natsu was absolutely ecstatic. Kageyama had all but plunked himself down into the Fire Dragon's lap, itching for a fight between them.
"You won't be able to beat me you little fly; you couldn't even fight me the last time. You were hiding behind that blonde bimbo the whole time. I must say, though, she was delicious to look at. Maybe when I destroy you, I'll try to find her and have a little fun…" Little did Kageyama know that those words were the worst possible thing to come out of his mouth at this moment.
Now it was all but guaranteed that the shadow mage would be burnt to a crisp.
"How dare you even think about my mate like that! You have no right to even look at her after what you did on the train." Natsu's magic started to engulf him, as adrenaline spread out through his body in anticipation for a fight. "Enough talk. I won't let you hurt Lucy again."
"Bring it on you pink-haired pansy; my shadows will follow you to the underworld!" Kageyama quickly slapped his hand on the ground, a magic circle forming below. He had to get an edge on his opponent, and this was the best way to do it.
"SNAKE SHADOW"
Multiple snakes composed entirely of dark matter burst forth heading directly towards Natsu, intent on dragging him to hell.
Or they would have been had it not been for Natsu's fantastic reflexes. He dodged out of the way with a graceful roll, his glittering onyx eyes trained on the shadow mage. It seemed like Kageyama did have a few tricks up his sleeve.
"My turn." Natsu crashed his fists together, his magic flaring up and his hands igniting with his flames. 'One attack should do it. This shadow bastard had nothing on me.' With a feral grin that showed off his gleaming fangs, Natsu attacked viciously and without mercy, intent on making sure that Kageyama would be down for a long while.
"I can't believe that you had the stones to challenge a Dragon."
Kageyama's heartbeat sped up as he realised that he had just angered the infamous Salamander of Fairy Tail. He should have seen it sooner, the wild pink hair and his scaly scarf…he was well known for his destructive tendencies the world over.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
A blast of concentrated Dragon's fire and ridiculously dry air hit the shadow mage with full force, as Kageyama had been unable to dodge due to his crippling fear at his untimely realisation.
Kageyama was unconscious, albeit in a very anticlimactic way. Natsu was still all fired up and starving for a good fight.
"Natsu! Don't hurt Kageyama. We need him!"
Well, it was a little late for that.