A/N:I don't own Fairy Tail.
Yeah, I'm really bad at fight scenes. Please refrain from killing and bbqing me. Thanks!
Gildarts voice seemed to fill the entire hallway as he counted, each number leaving his mouth slowly, as he seemed to summon strength from around him. Natsu couldn't see him, but he could nearly feel the intensity radiating off of the mage. "One."
Natsu felt the celestial wizard's hair brush against him, so close he could hear her breathing. When this was over, she would be safe. The thought gave him strength, his fists flaming as Gildarts spoke. "Two."
He tightened his fists hard enough that his short finger nails dug into the skin of his palm. On the count of three, they would enter and Natsu would finish him before he had a chance to know what hit him. There was no force on earth that could stop an enraged fire dragon. "Three."
Natsu rushed forward, using his body weight to push against the door. It fell down as though it had only been held up by string, not any sort of security at all. The dragon slayer spotted a man sitting behind a circular desk in the middle of the room. It had to be him. The fact that Daevion refused to turn around only served to increase his rage. He ran forward, leaving Lucy behind as he attacked.
"Fire dragon's iron fist!" He roared, aiming directly for the man's head. No one in the world could survive a direct hit like that, even a powerful necromancer. A loud crunch came from his fist as it connected with something hard a lot sooner than expected.
Erza stopped at the edge of the room, summoning a mass amount of swords in her heaven's wheel armor. "Natsu, get out of the way!" She ordered, eyes locking on her target. A loud cry ripped from her throat as she plunged forward, sending the swords flying in his direction, careful to direct them away from the dragon slayer.
The man at the desk looked up, a wicked grin playing across his face as the swords dropped to the floor before him and disintegrated as though they were made of ash.
Before anyone had a chance to react, Mirajane shot a large black orb his way. Realizing what it was, Natsu staggered back out of the way, gripping his fist against him as the black orb connected. The blast from it sent him staggering back, but the shield remained, unwavering. Did this idiot not intend on fighting at all? An impermeable shield was just as cowardly as running, but no shield would survive the attack he was about to unleash.
The dragon slayer felt a loud roar rip from his throat as he struggled to keep himself under control. For the sake of his nakama, he had to be cautious. Anything too powerful and he would set the whole building ablaze. Cautious wasn't something Natsu did well, but still he could not do nothing.
"Fire dragon's brilliant flame!" He yelled, bringing his hands together hard to form a fire ball. He launched it towards the man at close range, anger pulsing through him as it dissipated.
"What are you, chicken?" He threw a punch at the invisible shield, ignoring the pain in his hand.
The man finally turned to look at him, an amused look playing across his face. "Everyone fights using their best techniques." He said, standing up. "I am purely using mine."
"Is that a challenge?" Natsu asked, glaring. "I could burn this damn place to the ground."
"You could burn this whole place to the ground and the shield would remain. I wouldn't even get over heated. Go ahead and destroy the place." He said, holding his hand over a rather large red lacrima on the desk. "But let's see how easy you fight like this."
"I'm stuck!" Erza yelled, her swords circling around her despite the confined space.
"So am I." Mirajane said, looking at her feet. "I can't move my legs or my shoulder."
"My hand." Gildart's voice came from the corner. He'd been so quiet, Natsu had nearly forgotten he was there. "It's from the lacrima I touched."
"You bastard!" Natsu yelled, his temper flaring out of control.
"Your magic is flaring out of control. I bet you barely have enough control left to not burn this building down. I can see the flames radiating up your arms and I doubt you could stop it if you tried. We're opposites, you and I. My magic is in every way about control." He touched the red lacrima again, knocking the others to the ground, the area's the mist had covered stuck to the ground as though they weighed thousands of pounds. Gildarts struggled to a crouching position, his hand trapped in an awkward position on the floor.
Daevion turned around and laughed darkly as he watched Erza and Mirajane struggle to move with no avail.
"Natsu," Lucy said from behind the dragon slayer, her own shoulder and hand pinned to the floor. He turned his head just long enough to catch her fearful face. "Kick his ass."
The dark wizard raised his finger, writing on the inside of his shield in unfamiliar script. It glowed light blue under his finger tip, seemingly hovering in the air.
"What the hell is that?" Natsu asked, taking a step forward. If he could distract him just long enough to come up with a plan, he might actually have a chance.
"The rest of the spell."
"What spell?" Natsu growled, his anger growing despite his desire to stay in control. He could feel intense magic energy radiating from the back of the room, but ignored it in his rage.
"The one that is going to turn that beautiful blonde back there into my eternal servant, as well as many others, including your little ice make friend." He said, never ceasing his motions.
"Gray." Mira said softly, her form fading back into her normal appearance.
"Natsu, back up." Gildart's voice came from the corner of the room. He stood upright, wires and pieces of metal hanging from his arm. He took a step forward as magic energy radiated off of him, passing his prosthetic hand still pinned to the floor. "I can take down his shield."
"I was wondering when you would attack." Daevion said, his tone dull and lifeless, seemingly unaffected by Gildart's magic. Natsu was forced to his knees, the power overwhelming him. "But you should know, you don't actually intimidate me."
"Then you won't mind if I do this." He said, placing his remaining hand onto the barrier. Collecting all the magic energy radiating throughout the room, he pushed forward, shattering it into countless pieces. The spell remained, floating in the air between them.
Gildarts threw his fist forward, barely effected by the immense amount of magic he had just used. The necromancer dodged it easily, taking the ginger mage by surprise. Daevion used his surprise to his benefit, jumping over the desk before Gildarts got a second chance.
"Come back, you bastard!" Natsu demanded, jumping to his feet.
The dark mage slammed his hand down on one of lacrima on the desk, a devilish grin crossing his face as the girls cried out in pain. "Move a muscle and it gets worse for them." He warned, slightly out of breath.
"Lucy?" Natsu asked, looking at his girlfriend out of the corner of her eye. Her shoulder and hand were turning slowly from red to purple as bruises spread out across them.
"I told you." He said, voice dangerously low. "My magic is about control, and with these Lacrima, I can control exactly what happens to them. It's funny really, that you were the only one who avoided the lacrima embedded in the walls, a useless idiot like you."
"Stop hurting them." Natsu ordered, baring his teeth at the wizard. He couldn't stand to see his friends hurt, especially by someone as worthless as Daevion.
"Don't worry. She won't hurt for long, I only have a few words left on this spell before the blonde is mine. Then I'll take all of you for my army as well."
"Like hell you will." Rage rushed through his veins like molten lava, his entire body shaking. The fire dragon slayer felt sharp pain erupt throughout his body, fading fast, but leaving behind scales across his cheeks and arms. The dark wizard's eyes widened in shock.
Gildarts took the opportunity and slammed his fist into the control desk, using his crash magic to blow it into a thousand parts. He opened his mouth to speak, but Natsu was already attacking.
The dragon slayer lunged forward, his entire body coated in fire so hot even Mirajane and Erza could feel it. He tackled Daevion to the floor, baring his teeth at him just long enough to see the fear in his eyes as his clothes caught fire. Natsu pulled his fist back and slammed it into his face, causing an explosion that made the walls rattle. It wasn't enough. He hit him again, and again, unable to control his anger.
"Natsu." Gildarts said, his voice booming through the room. "That's enough. It's over."
"It's not enough." Natsu said, swallowing his rage long enough to speak.
"There's nothing left of him Natsu." Mirajane's voice came, soft and shaky.
"I don't care." He said, looking down to see that most of the skin had been torn from his knuckes.
"That may be so, but you've caught the building on fire." Erza said, still sitting on the floor to his left. A pained look played across her face as she watched him. "It's over. We need to get out of here."
"Where's Lucy?" Natsu asked, panic filling him as he realized he hadn't heard her voice yet.
"She's not here." Gildarts said, the harsh tone leaving his voice. "But we need to go."
"No." Natsu said, sitting back on the floor defeated. She couldn't be gone, not when he had worked so hard to save her. "I can't lose her again. Maybe Loke got her. Did Loke come back while I was fighting?"
"None of us saw him." Mirajane admitted, a small tear rolling down the side of her face. No doubt she was worried about the fate of her own love.
"Come on Natsu." Gildarts ordered, offering him his hand. "We have to get the girls out of here and they can barely walk."
"But Lucy-"
"Natsu, get up." Erza ordered, pulling herself to her feet. The flames from the fire in the corner of the room were licking up the sides of the bookshelves, slowly surrounding the room with fire. "You made Happy wait back at the camp and he'll be wondering about you. I'm sure Lucy will be fine." Her words seemed real, despite the fact that she had no idea why Lucy was even around.
"Right." Natsu mumbled. He grabbed Gildarts hand and pulled himself up. The dragon slayer looked over to Mira who had at finally managed to sit up. "Do you need me to carry you?"
"Just help me stand up." She said, straining to stay upright. "I think my shoulder may be dislocated."
"Here." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. Natsu pulled her to her feet and flung her good arm over his shoulder to steady her. He could do at least that much.
"Let's get out of here." Gildarts said solemnly as a beam fell from the ceiling, landing in the corner of the room consumed by flames.
Once outside of the castle, Natsu helped Mirajane into a sitting position on the grass far enough away from the burning building. He collapsed in the grass several yards away, overwhelmed by grief. If Lucy had disappeared, she wasn't going to come back to him again. If he had only waited long enough for Loke to come back, it might not have been too late. His reckless eager actions had likely cost his love his life.
"Just breathe." Erza ordered, her tone soft and maternal.
A loud, strangled cry came from the white haired mage. Natsu whipped his head around in time to see Erza sliding her arm back into socket. She ripped a piece of cloth from Mira's dress to form a sling and placed it around her.
He looked over to see Gildarts holding onto his metal hand, trying to reconnect it to his wrist with clumsy movements. "Do you need help with that?" Natsu asked, wiping away the tears he was trying desperately to hold back.
"No, I think it's pretty hopeless." He admitted in defeat, tossing it on the grass beside himself. "That last attack pretty well crushed it."
"Yeah," Natsu mumbled, forming a fist with his hand. Pain shot down it through to his wrist. He had been sure it was broken after the first punch, the rest likely didn't make it any better. He tensed his hand again, the pain clearing his mind.
"Natsu?" The rough voice came from behind him.
A/N: So, I updated early because NaNoWriMo is going horribly!
I hope you enjoyed this little update, and don't hate me too much for my sucky fight scenes.
**shameless self promotion**
If you are here for the Graymi, I have also started a lovely little fic called Deep Blue centering around those two. It is going to get pretty emotionally heavy though, so reader beware.
Prompts, questions, or suggestions? Find me on Tumblr AudreyRhey
