Tenuous
. . .
When the fog had finally cleared, Natsu looked in horror as the man's fangs sank into Lucy's neck. His friend—no, my kin!—screamed out in pain, strength leaving her body as the man's fangs retreated. He snarled at Natsu before letting the blonde crumple to the floor. The Fire Slayer watched as a large snake came flying into view. The offender jumped on as the beast quickly transported him away.
"How dare you!" Natsu screamed in absolute rage as he took off to follow the soon to be dead man.
The commotion of the fight had attracted the other members of the Allied Force who were nearby trying their best to regroup after having fought other members of the dark guild without much success. When they arrived, they saw both Erza and Lucy unconscious in the clearing.
. . .
He could almost feel the heat from the man as he chased him, but Cobra didn't care. The adrenaline from the chase was only serving to make his heart pump faster and increase the ecstasy he was feeling.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did!" the idiot yelled after him.
Cobra smirked. He tuned in to listen to the man's soul: "What the hell did he even do? I saw him bite her; I saw Lucy in pain! No one makes Lucy cry! Lucy—her scent. It's all so different."
It was clear to Cobra that this slayer knew nothing of mating. He couldn't blame the man. The only reason he knew anything about it was because his dragon's soul had once belonged to another and they had been through both a conquest and a mating.
"A conquest—God damn, I've got my own conquest. This is going to be fucking ahhhmazing." He snickered as he led Natsu in circles, waiting for the opportunity to finally lose the hothead. "And this asshole doesn't know the first thing about mating. No one's going to be able to tell her anything. This is just too perfect."
The maroon-haired man snickered as he looped back around once more, Cubelios in sync with his own thoughts before finally losing the fire slayer. He activated his magic, listening for the man's soul. When he was satisfied that he was no longer following him, he let Cubelios land. They had flown to a large field and Cobra jumped down from his friend and rolled out in the tall grass.
Cubelios slithered off, enjoying the feel of the grass for herself, leaving her slayer high in the center. And he truly was high. The moment his fangs had sunk into that woman's neck, he'd felt a swell of energy enter his body. His dragon soul was telling him that he had absorbed the energy that remained with her after the first bite. Had he bitten her sooner, he would have been completely inebriated. But as much of the bond had worn off, and the energy had left her body since Laxus failed to seal it, he only got about a quarter of what he would have earlier.
Cobra basked in the feel of it all. His second soul was telling him that even though he only absorbed a small amount of the bond from Lucy, his conquest bond was still firmly in place. He tested the bond. It was fresh and he could feel her presence clearly through it. It wasn't deep—like a mating bond was. And she wouldn't be able to feel anything that he was feeling. It was all one-sided.
And given that it didn't appear that any of her Guildmates knew what any of this was, he was going to have a lot of fun with this.
. . .
"How the hell did I lose him?" Natsu ground his teeth in frustration. He sniffed the air. The man's scent looped back on itself and at this point, Natsu was just traveling in circles.
He let out a roar of frustration, burning some of the nearby trees to ash before finally turning around to head back to where everyone had regrouped. The scene he came upon was grim. Erza was lying on the ground, clearly in severe pain and dropping in and out of consciousness. He looked over at her arm and noticed it was swollen and purple in various areas.
Natsu turned to look at Lucy. She was still unconscious on the ground and there was a clear purple bite mark on her neck. Natsu walked over to her tentatively and was immediately confronted by a strong scent that was decidedly not Lucy. It was also so incredibly noxious that he didn't even want to get near her.
Members of the other Guilds were swarming around the two and Natsu felt completely at a loss on what to do. There was some mention about Ichiya trying a healing perfume on Erza but that didn't seem to work. Finally, the little blue haired girl stepped forward. She was extremely timid as she stood there shaking in her little yellow dress.
Her companion was the one to speak over the crowd. "Wendy can help!"
"Carla, don't!" she whispered.
"No child," the little cat said, turning to look at her. "Your teammates need you now."
Natsu was losing his cool at not being able to do anything. He bound up to the little girl and cast her an intimidating gaze. "What can you do to help?"
The girl backed away from him before stammering, "I know healing magic."
The gasps of the surrounding mages could be heard over the commotion and Wendy was quickly ushered to Erza's side. Within a few minutes, the purple had disappeared from her arm and the woman's breathing had steadied. Erza woke up briefly to say that she was much improved before falling back asleep. Wendy indicated that this was perfectly normal; as the woman would need to sleep to recover from the stress her body had been under.
"And what about Lucy?" Natsu ground his teeth in agitation. He knew that the poison was fast moving in Erza's body and needed to be cured quickly before it moved into any vital organs but it seemed like everyone had forgotten that Lucy was laying unconscious with her own purple wound.
Wendy quickly got up to rush to the blonde's side, but she stopped short. "Well! What is it?" Natsu demanded hotly.
"Hey cool it, Natsu," Gray said, giving the fire slayer a glare. "You're scaring her. We're all worried about Lucy."
Natsu rolled his shoulders, trying to keep from starting something with Gray. He didn't have time for that; he was worried about Lucy! He gave a look to Wendy, asking her to continue.
"Her scent," Wendy explained. "It's hard to get close to her. It's making me nauseas."
Gray furrowed his brow. "What scent?"
The men of Blue Pegasus approached the blonde. "I don't smell anything."
Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Odd. We're the only two that can sense it?" A thought came into him mind suddenly, "Wendy, are you a dragon slayer?"
The little girl let out a squeak before nodding her head timidly. "If you mean did I learn magic from a dragon, then yes."
Natsu tried to swallow the surprise he felt hearing these words as well as the impulse to ask about Igneel. He needed to keep his focus on Lucy right now. "Can you tell us what you feel or sense?"
Wendy nodded her head. "She's not in any pain and I can sense her vitals; she's alive and well. I think," the girl hesitated. "It's hard to explain but when that man bit her, I could feel some weird energy transfer. And now, she's bearing his scent. It's very different than the scents she carried before."
Lyon, another ice mage, approached the conversation, running his hand through his stunning white hair, making it stand even taller on his head. "Did you say scents? As in plural?"
Wendy nodded her head, her blue hair swaying with the motion. "When we all first met, I could sense two scents on her. Almost like she was two people." She turned to look at Natsu. "Didn't you sense it?"
Natsu bristled as everyone's eyes turned to him. He should have noticed something like that—he was with her the most of everyone. But he didn't usually pay attention to small details like that. An awkward silence stretched out over the clearing before he finally felt compelled to answer. He shook his head. "No, I never noticed."
Wendy tapped her finger to her lip in thought. "Well, it was pretty subtle."
Natsu growled in frustration. "So what does all this mean for Lucy?"
"Well," Wendy said, hesitating slightly. "She seems to be okay. I think she needs rest and I'll monitor her to make sure she's okay. Until she wakes up there's not really much we can do."
"That's not good enough!" Natsu let his anger spill over. "Wait and see? What about that purple mark on her neck? What are we supposed to do about that?" Natsu walked over to Lucy and attempted to pick her up but he withdrew quickly, dropping the woman back to the floor.
He screamed in pain. "Natsu!" Wendy approached him quickly to look at his hand. His fingertips where he'd touched Lucy had turned slightly purple. Wendy activated her healing magic and the color faded. "It's the same poison that was in Erza. It's just a lot less concentrated."
Natsu was at his wits end. "I can't take this! I feel so helpless!" He turned on his heel, running through the forest in his rage, the grass smoldering with each step.
Lyon moved to follow but Gray put a hand on his chest, holding him back. "Don't. He'll find his way back. This is just how he is."
Lyon sniffed. "Reckless." Gray nodded his head in agreement. He turned to look at the blonde on the ground. He moved near her and reached out tentatively.
Lucy's eye cracked open to look at him, the fall jarring her awake. "Gray? Where-?"
"Shh," Gray put a finger to his lip. "It's all right, Lucy. Just rest. We're going to get you back home."
She smiled her warm smile and her head fell back with sleep once more. Gray reached out to her again, slowly and breathed a sigh of relief when touching her didn't hurt him. He lifted the blonde carefully and turned to see Jura do the same with Erza. The entire team began walking back to the rendezvous point feeling deflated.
. . .
He let out a blood-curdling scream that broke through the entire room. The fog lifted slightly at the sound and people stopped who they were engaged with, or at least slowed down in Vander's case, to turn. Many watched as Laxus crumpled onto the floor, completely unconscious, tears leaking out of his eyes.
. . .
Cristoff felt it immediately and turned to watch the larger slayer fall. With his magic at its peak he could sense the most subtle of fluctuations in magic energy. "I felt something snap. A connection—a bond? Something happened." The feel of such powerful magic rushing past him had sobered him somewhat.
He quickly untangled himself from the many people he was with to rush to Laxus' side. He smiled at the woman Laxus had been with. Cristoff saw concern fill her eyes and he reached out with his magic, calming her tumultuous thoughts. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved to join her friends in the mass of people Cristoff had just left.
The Lunar Slayer tried to catch Vander's eye. The man had switched so that he had a woman pushed up against the cabinetry and was driving her crazy with his fingers. Cristoff reached out once more with his magic—something he could only do during a full moon—and snapped some of it against Vander. It got the man's attention. He stuttered briefly in his movements before turning his head to look at his brother not stopping his actions.
Cristoff raised an eyebrow and Vander sighed. He handed the woman off to the few people that were engaged next to him. Licking his fingers, he walked over to where Cristoff was kneeled over the lightning mage. "What happened? Fuck himself to exhaustion?" Vander snickered.
Cristoff gave him a stern look. He could feel the effects of the moon's power moving back in to cloud his vision so he needed to get this situation handled quickly while he still had his wits. "We have to move him."
Vander nodded, standing and picking the blond up and unceremoniously swinging him over his shoulder to carry him into one of the side bedrooms. Vander kept the doors runed so that only his hand could open the door. It was a useful thing for intruders so no one was in the room. He let Laxus fall onto the bed and moved back so Cristoff could look him over.
"So what happened?" Vander said, trying to adjust the erection clearly showing through his leather. While Cristoff may have been momentarily sobered, that didn't mean the effects of the magic had worn off on Vander.
Cristoff shook his head. "I don't know exactly. I'm checking his vitals now. I've only got a few minutes so let me work."
Vander sighed. Deep inside he knew he should be more concerned for the larger man but Cristoff's magic was still thick in the air and affecting his thought processes. He heard his brother heave a sigh of relief. "He'll be fine. His magic is extremely depleted. It's lucky we opened that third origin when we did. I've put him into a deep sleep and he'll wake tomorrow morning. We'll have to figure out what happened then, but for now, at least he's okay."
Vander nodded his head in understanding. "So we're good here?"
Cristoff smirked, the effects of the moon rushing back to him quickly. "Heck yeah!" he said with a laugh as he preceded his brother back to the main room as Vander closed the door behind them.
. . .
Bickslow slid into the bench next to Evergreen, bumping into her on purpose and cracking a grin at her expected huff. His good mood was interrupted when the Allied Forces team walked into the Guild—or at least some of them along with a little girl he had never seen before.
Natsu sat heavily at one of the barstools and Gray followed. Bickslow raised an eyebrow as the two men didn't even bother to fight with one another. "Oh my, what's gotten into you two?" Mira asked in a concerned voice.
Gray groaned. "Things didn't go as planned."
The little girl with blue hair looked around uncertainly and Mira addressed her next. "Well hello there. Can I help you?"
Wendy looked at her and blinked a few times. "I—I was hoping to join your Guild." She ducked her head. "You see, when I went back to mine—" she choked back tears. Gray perked up enough to explain to Mira what had happened when they tried to bring the girl back to her home. It turned out the entire place was a magical illusion and the moment Wendy left, it had all disappeared. There was nothing left for her.
Mira took the little girl's hand in hers and started towards the Master's office. She stopped for a second, turning back to the two exhausted mages. "Where's Lucy."
Natsu groaned and Gray sighed. "Sensitive subject. She got attacked by another dragon slayer. We dropped her off at her apartment last night when we got back and she's sleeping it off." Mira nodded before ushering the little girl up the stairs.
Bickslow nearly choked on his drink. "Attacked? By another dragon slayer? And they left her alone? To fucking sleep it off!"
"Evergreen, you know where Lucy lives?" Bickslow turned to her with serious eyes.
The woman nodded. "Two blocks away, on Canal Street, left of the central bridge. Second story apartment."
"Great, thanks!" Bickslow said, calling his babies over to him.
Before Evergreen had the opportunity to ask any clarifiers, Bickslow was already through the door, headed for Lucy's apartment.
. . .
Lucy awoke to the sound of her window sliding open. She groaned, assuming it was Natsu. "Go away," she said groggily, turning over.
"Whoa, Cosplayer, it's only me!" Bickslow said in as soothing a voice as he could.
"Bix?" Lucy blinked at him with bleary eyes. He tried not to suck in a breath of worry at seeing the clear purple mark in her neck. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't think you should be alone right now, Lucy? Do you mind if I take you back to my place?" Bickslow wouldn't insist she stayed with them but if she wanted to stay in her own apartment, he was going to have Evergreen come over. Someone needed to be close by. At least until Bickslow could get ahold of Cristoff and get some things straightened out.
Lucy shook her head. "No, no, s'okay." She clearly wasn't completely conscious but Bickslow took her permission. Leaning down, he wrapped her pink comforter around her before picking her up and jumping onto his babies to fly back to Laxus' house.
He settled her in the same bedroom as before. She had fallen asleep in his arms on the flight over and was still resting peacefully. Very quietly, he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the purple bite mark on her neck. He knew Cristoff was going to ask to see it—if he ever managed to get ahold of the man.
Lucy stirred briefly and he turned the light out to let her sleep better. Closing the door behind him, he looked at the time. It was still early in the morning the day after a full moon but Cristoff should be recovered by now.
Almost as if he had willed it, Cristoff's picture flashed on his screen as an incoming call. Bickslow quickly swiped right to answer. "Bro, it's about time—"
"We need to talk—" the brothers said simultaneously.
The Seith walked into his own room closing the door. "I think I should go first." Cristoff stayed silent. Bickslow hesitated. This entire time he'd needed to tell Cristoff about the situation and now that he had him on the phone, he didn't even know where to start. "Look, I don't know how to say this but, I think Lucy is Laxus' mate."
He heard his brother suck in a breath on the other end of the line. "And that's not all." Bickslow told his brother briefly about what he'd overheard at the Guild and sent him the picture he'd taken.
"This is all starting to make more sense," Cristoff murmured.
"Huh? What's making sense?" Bickslow clarified.
Cristoff recounted what had happened during the full moon and what he had sensed. "The only explanation for it is that their tentative mating bond snapped as soon as that other slayer set his mark into her."
Bickslow cursed loudly. "What the hell does all this mean?"
He heard his brother groan on the other end of the line. "Frankly, I don't know. I wish I did but I'm not a second gen. I don't have a second soul like Laxus does. And I only know what Nurem passed on to me about actual dragon mating."
"Well did she tell you anything about—whatever the hell this might be?"
Cristoff was silent for a moment before he continued. "She did say that when a dragon set its first mark, their mate was kept very close. Other dragons would be drawn to the scent and power of the initial bite. So she warned me that if I ever began the mating, to keep my other half close and away from other slayers until I could set the second mark. But that's all she said about that."
Bickslow cursed again and Cristoff continued. "We're just going to have to keep a close eye on her, Bix. Try to stay around her and report back to me if you see anything different. Even the smallest things could be clues." There was a pause before he added. "And watch that bite. See if it fades or gets worse."
Bickslow agreed before asking about Laxus. "Well, I can tell you this much, the fucker's lucky he opened his third origin when he did. If he hadn't, he would most certainly be dead."
The Seith sucked in a breath. Something like that was hard to imagine for him. Laxus had been in his life since arriving in Fiore and his strength and power had gotten him through a lot of bad times. "Wait—did you say third origin?"
Cristoff chuckled. "Yeah. We opened it. I've never heard the man scream so loud but damn Bix, I can sense his magical energy. It's far past impressive at this point. When that bond snapped back on him, if he didn't have his third origin—his magic levels would have dropped to nothing and there's nothing I could have done. We're really very lucky."
"Does he know?"
"No."
Both men were silent. "But I'm going to tell him as soon as he wakes up. He needs to fix this—if he can."
That's what had Bickslow worried—he wasn't sure after all that had happened if there really was a way to fix this.
. . .
Lucy blinked her eyes open. This didn't seem like her apartment, yet her own comforter surrounded her. She looked around the room as her vision cleared. Memories started flooding back into her mind—she vaguely remembered Bickslow coming to her apartment and asking to take care of her. "I must be back at Laxus' place."
She tested her movement and was surprised to find that she wasn't sore at all. Lucy stretched, smiling in relief as her joints popped in a few places. She swung her legs out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. "Not too bad considering," she laughed to herself. Her smile instantly faded, however, as she saw a deep purple mark on her neck. "What?—What is this?"
Where Laxus had previously bitten her, a fresh bite mark was in its place. The area around each puncture was a deep purple with the faintest of shimmers. She touched the mark and shuddered involuntarily. Within a few seconds, she felt something she had trouble describing. She shook it off. "I need to figure out what's going on."
She heard a soft knock at the door. "Cosplayer?"
She righted her clothing and opened the door to see a worried-looking Bickslow. It was a strange look on him given that he was normally all smiles. "Can you explain this?" She pointed to her neck.
The man sighed. "We'd better sit down." The two went downstairs and Lucy listened over tea as Bickslow filled her in on what he'd heard from the Guild. He didn't know much past what he'd overheard but he was at least able to give her the rough details of what had happened. "So, do you feel anything? Are you okay?"
She hesistated. She had felt something fleeting earlier but, was it really worth getting everyone worried about her? She already felt like a burden in the Guild and now this? Why did these things always have to happen to her? She shook her head. "No, I'm okay." She rubbed Bickslow's arm in a comforting way; it was so hard to see him look so down. "I'm sure this bite will fade just like the last one."
"Speaking of the last one." Bickslow relayed to her what Cristoff had said about Laxus. How the man had nearly died when their bond snapped.
"Reject him."
Lucy sniffed. "I don't really see how that's my problem." Bickslow's eyes widened in shock and Lucy continued. "He's the one that bit me in the first place without even knowing what he did. It's his fault that all of this has happened. Why should I feel the slightest bit bad for him?"
Bickslow couldn't believe what he was hearing. The last he'd talked with Lucy she had felt horrible for what had happened and expressed guilt over playing some part in it. She'd indicated that while she desperately wanted to work things out with the man, she also wanted to give him the time he needed to figure things out for himself. While she wasn't going to "wait" for him in that sense, she said that she'd be open to talking with him when he returned—if he ever did.
But now, the girl had done a complete one eighty, and it all happened so fast. "Lucy, you can't mean that?"
"You do."
"I do. I don't know Bickslow. This whole mate stuff is just too much for me. I don't think I could ever be with Laxus in that way."
Lucy moved to leave the table and Bickslow grabbed her hands in desperation. "Lucy, you can't!"
She raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Bickslow backed off a bit. He wasn't ever going to be one to tell a woman what to do with her body or her love life, but she didn't understand the entire situation. "Lucy, if you continue to reject him, his life force will fade."
"I don't see why that's my problem," Lucy huffed. She was somewhat surprised at her sudden mood swing. She hadn't felt like this about Laxus before? Why was she suddenly feeling so angry towards him?
"How can you not care? Lucy, he could die!" Bickslow stood up in clear anger and concern for his friend. Laxus had taken some of the pain away from him when Bickslow was forced to flee Bosco. He'd lost everything, his country, his family, his home. He'd been severally depressed when he'd arrived in Fiore and even people at the Guild had been hesitant about him and his magic. But Laxus wasn't. He'd seen the strength in his abilities and his character and the two had been friends since, through thick and thin.
Lucy felt compelled to stand up herself. "No one, I repeat no one tells me who I should and should not love, fuck or be with. Don't think either of you can guilt me into being with him because it won't work. I don't want him!" With that, she turned and walked out of the house, leaving Bickslow near tears.
"That's my good girl."
END CHAPTER 25
. . .
"I am no bird," she said,
"and no net ensnares me."
Yet despite her proclamations,
the hunters did not cease.
In their righteous hour,
they continued to cast their seines
For to them,
challenge was too difficult to comprehend.
While some fled and others chased
Some stayed true
"We are with you," they chirped.
"For this is your journey."
"Ego is a funny thing," she mused.
"It raises some to false heights
while tearing others down
from their rightful place."
And she did fall victim
To that which would seek to control
And she did not fully understand
Until her wings were clipped.
But feathers grow back
and they grow more beautiful
for in strife is strength
and in toil, discovery.
So when they approached
with clippers of complacency
it bothered her not.
For she knew the path, henceforth.