Chapter 20: A Light in the Dark
Lucy watched carefully as Happy grabbed the keys around Jose's belt. Bringing them to her, she hid them under her leg. Looking at Happy, she winked, "When the time is right, take the keys and let me loose."
She then turned back to the fight, watching carefully. She didn't want to see her friends fighting, but she had no choice. Lucy couldn't just cry out for them to stop. Staying quiet, she hoped that her friends would be safe.
Meanwhile, Gajeel stood up and glared at Natsu. Running forward, he turned his fist into iron and punched Natsu's face. Natsu skidded back a few feet, but stayed standing. Wiping his face, Natsu smirked.
"I'm all fired up!" he yelled out, setting fire to his hands. Running as fast as he could, Natsu's fist of fire met Gajeel's fist of iron and caused a huge shock. They were both flung back by the force. Catching himself first, Natsu set his elbow aflame and slammed it into Gajeel's stomach. Gajeel then grabbed Natsu's head with his hand. Turning his arm and hand into a long iron pole, Natsu was sent back.
While this was going on, Erza was finishing off the enemies Jose had sent. When they were done, Erza flew at Jose with incredible speed. Slamming her sword down, it buried itself into the floor. Jose had dodged her attack. That was no surprise since he was a wizard saint, but she was not planning to lose to this man. Ripping her sword out of the floor, she once again charged at Jose.
Before she could reach him, a wave of water slammed into her side and set her balance off. Turning to Juvia, she saw Gray still stuck in her water lock. Seeing the ball of water, Erza smirked.
"Hurry up already Gray! I don't have time to deal with her," she yelled.
Juvia blinked and stared at Erza, "No one can break out of Juvia's water lock. You'll soon realize this yourself."
Just as Juvia was about to use water lock on Erza, Gray attacked her. A bit shocked, Juvia turned around to face him. What kind of trick was this? This was impossible. Sending a wave of water at Gray, she watched in shock as he froze it.
"I won't be defeated by you," he said, positioning himself to send his ice lances at her. Sending them at her once again, he watched as they went through her. He cursed and got ready to freeze Juvia. She had said she was made of water, right?
Juvia then started to boil. Running at him, he dodged just in time. She then turned into a wave of water and slammed into Gray, scalding him with the boiling water she had become. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on freezing the water. Jumping out of the water, he froze it as he exited. Happy with his work, he stayed there in case she was to break out.
Lucy looked at Happy and nodded. Lifting up her leg, Lucy made sure happy had grabbed the keys before putting her leg back down. After Happy unlocked her right hand, she took the keys and unlocked the rest herself. Standing up, she looked at Happy and winked, "Happy, go help Natsu out a bit. Max speed."
Nodding, Happy smiled before flying off to be at Natsu's side. Seeing her Celestial keys and whip on Jose's belt, she glared. Lucy wanted them back. Seeing that he was distracted by Erza, she took a huge risk. Sneaking over to Jose's side, she was able to unwrap her whip from Jose's belt. Just as she was about to grab her keys, he turned to her.
"So, the daughter of the Heartfilia estate has decided not to listen? Too bad," he said, smacking her rather hard. Touching her hand to her cheek, she looked back and glared at Jose. Taking her whip, she wrapped it around his leg before pulling. He fell to the floor, his leg pulled out from under him. Erza then slammed the hilt of her sword into his head. The power behind the hit had rendered him unconscious.
"Welcome back, Lucy," Erza said with a smile, pulling the said girl into a hug. Lucy's head hit Erza's armor a bit hard, but she still smiled.
"It's nice to be back. Now, let's kick some Phantom ass!" she cheered.
Erza smiled as Lucy happily took her keys back from Jose. Even after Lucy had been interrogated, she could still smile at them. It was quite the miracle. Lucy could easily forgive people, something that not many people could still do. Lucy was truly a light in the darkness when it came to everything.